EXCLUSIVE | UDA ‘will hit back’ after boss battered at band parade by rival loyalists

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sunday-life/news/uda-will-hit-back-after-boss-battered-at-band-parade-by-rival-loyalists/a989949776.html

https://imgur.com/a/uGVM5dX

Ciaran Barnes
Today at 07:00

A UDA boss has been left with a broken leg after being battered by rival loyalists at a band parade in Ballymena.

Marcus Boreland (49) was attacked during the Royal Black Institution’s ‘Last Saturday’ march.

Footage of the brawl shows the 20-stone bouncer lying in a heap on the road after being floored by a flurry of sneaky blows. His ankle points at a grotesque angle as friends try to help him to his feet.

Witnesses said Boreland, who denies involvement in criminality, was assaulted by supporters of a flute band from the village of Dervock in north Antrim.

David McConachie, who was also attacked, told Sunday Life: “It was a completely unprovoked assault. I was punched by a group of about three men and ended up having to throw a chair at them in self-defence.

“They battered the head off another of my friends and Marcus was also attacked with a flute. He was hit over the head too when he was trying to calm things down.”

McConachie believes he was targeted because he quit a controversial flute band some years ago and is friends with loyalists in Ballymoney.

He said: “My girlfriend had her car burnt out in Dervock, and last month graffiti with my name and a target next to it was spray painted in the village.

“The police actually questioned me about last weekend’s fight in Ballymena.

“I’m on police bail now and banned from entering Dervock, even though I did nothing wrong, and you can see that from the video.”

Several UDA members from Dervock split from the north Antrim section of the terror group in 2021 and aligned themselves with the West Belfast UDA.

Since then, they have been involved in sporadic clashes with their former paramilitary pals.

Boreland leads a north Antrim UDA gang in nearby Ballymoney, and previously told this newspaper that he was under death threat from the Dervock dissidents, who he accused of selling drugs.

He said at the time: “I received a death threat and it is from elements within Dervock. The people in Dervock connected to the West Belfast UDA are most certainly, definitely, 100% dealing drugs.”

Last weekend’s assault on Boreland as he watched a parade has been linked to this ongoing dispute.

“Marcus Boreland is a hate figure for many UDA members in Dervock, and when they saw him at the Ballymena parade last week, they thought, ‘Now’s our chance to get him’,” explained a north Antrim loyalist.

“In fairness to Marcus, he didn’t do anything wrong. He was the victim here, he didn’t instigate the row and was jumped from behind.”

The attack on Boreland sparked the brawl between spectators and the Dervock loyalists, which included flutes being used as batons and folding chairs being thrown.

“It was madness,” added our source. “Marcus came off the worse out of everyone.

“He was lying in the road, screaming in agony. Folk who were standing beside him said you could hear the snap of the bone breaking in his leg.”

Boreland is now holed up at home in Ballymoney, recuperating with his leg in a cast. North Antrim loyalists said the attack on such a senior UDA figure would not go unpunished.

“There is no way the North Antrim UDA will let this go,” added our source.

“Marcus Boreland is a commander of the Ballymoney UDA, he’s a really senior figure in the organisation. An attack on him won’t be tolerated.”

The assault on Boreland is the latest in a long line of tit-for-tat incidents between loyalists in Ballymoney and Dervock.

Last summer, McConachie and his brother Sammie were slashed in the face and arms with machetes as they innocently made their way home from a pub in the tiny village.

Earlier last year, two men and a woman were attacked by a masked gang armed with baseball bats and crowbars at a property in Ballymoney.

There is no suggestion the victims are linked to paramilitaries.

Around the same time, Boreland was targeted in a threatening graffiti campaign in the town.

​This was after one of his associates, aged in his 20s, was kneecapped by the UDA.

Boreland previously served a nine-month term on the loyalist wing of Maghaberry for threatening to kill a Catholic. He phoned warnings to his victim’s workplace, where he was also employed, saying he was going to be “shot by the Red Hand Defenders”.

The High Court seized £500,000 worth of assets from Boreland in 2016 which prosecutors said were obtained via VAT fraud.

The haul included a holiday home in Turkey, bank accounts, profits from the sale of two properties and three top-of-the-range cars. Boreland grew up in Dervock, living there until his teenage years and still has family in the village.

Appealing for information about the violence at the Ballymena band parade, the PSNI said: “Police received a report of an assault at the Queen Street area of Ballymena on August 31.

“Shortly after 5.50pm, it was reported that a number of males were involved in an altercation during a band parade in the area.

“It was reported that a man in his 40s was struck on the head, which resulted in an injury to his ankle.

“Enquiries are continuing to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident, and police would appeal to anyone who was in the area at the time, to contact them on 101.”