Marcus Boreland: Leading loyalist injured in attack on band parade receives death threat

Marcus Boreland, a Ballymoney man who runs his own security company, was in hospital this week awaiting surgery when police called him and told him: “Your life is now in danger!”

A PSNI officer who called Boreland at Musgrave Park Hospital added that the use of firearms could not be ruled out.

He advised the injured person to take additional safety precautions.

The 49-year-old father of four was enjoying a ‘Last Saturday’ outing in Ballymena with his teenage daughter two weeks ago when he was knocked to the ground by a passing musician.

As Boreland tried to regain his balance, his leg caught under his own weight and broke at the ankle.

This week Marcus Boreland spoke to the Sunday World about the unprovoked attack and expressed concern about elements he claimed have infiltrated loyalists in the village where he was born and raised.

He said: ‘I was in hospital awaiting surgery when the police called me and said they had received information that there was a possible violent attempt on my life.

“And the officer added that the use of firearms could not be ruled out. They advised me to check my personal security.

“I have a young daughter and grandchildren and within two days I have received two death threats from so-called loyalists. This is very disturbing for my whole family.

“Considering that I was born and raised in Dervock and lived there until I was 14.

“We were loyal people and now it is so-called loyalists who are threatening me and my family.

Footage of the incident two weeks ago also shows another musician approaching Boreland as he sat on the street and begging for help.

Just moments earlier, Marcus Boreland had intervened and calmed the situation after a member of the flute band Dervock Young Defenders allegedly attacked another spectator standing nearby.

Davie McConaghie, 36, from Dervock, was also watching the Royal Black Perceptory parade with friends when he was also allegedly attacked by a passing musician.

And after being treated in hospital, McConaghie was arrested and questioned for throwing a chair at his alleged attacker. He was released on bail.

However, we can also reveal that McConaghie – a former member of the Dervock band – was called back to hospital this week where he received further medical attention.

X-rays showed that McConaghie’s wrist was also broken in the incident, which occurred as the normally respectable parade began its return journey through the loyalist Harryville district of the County Antrim town.

“The truth is, we were just enjoying the parade when the musicians suddenly attacked Davie McConaghie, who was standing next to me,” Boreland told the Sunday World.

“I jumped over to tell Davie not to retaliate, and as soon as I did, I was attacked too.

“I didn’t want to go to the parade because I was too busy with work, but my little daughter wanted me to go and then this happened.

“I had to put seven nails in my foot to keep it straight. And to think that this was done by people who claim to be loyalists. It’s a disgrace.”

“I witnessed Davie McConaghie being attacked.

“Of course he was angry, so I went to him to tell him to calm down. And the next thing I remember is being hit on the side of the head.”

Marcus Boreland stressed that he was pleased with the PSNI’s response to the incident and was keen to continue the investigation.

And he added that he had been inundated with messages of support from all sections of the loyalists.

He said: “The worst part was when St John’s Ambulance arrived. They thought I might lose my foot. That was very bad for my daughter but thankfully that didn’t happen.”

“They took me to Antrim Hospital but then I was transferred to the Royal in Belfast for emergency surgery and then to Musgrave Park.”

“Thank God we have footage that shows much of what happened in Ballymena that day. And of course the PSNI and the Royal Black Institution are investigating. I look forward to the outcome,” said Marcus Boreland.

He added: “I firmly believe that there is a renegade loyalist element at work in Dervock and that it must be dealt with before something worse happens.”

Marcus Boreland has long been a well-known figure in loyalist circles in County Antrim.

He previously spent nine months behind bars in the loyalist UDA wing of HMP Maghaberry after being convicted of making death threats against a Catholic work colleague.

A court heard Boreland told the man he was going to be “shot by the Red Hand Defenders.”

In 2006, the High Court seized half a million pounds worth of assets belonging to Marcus Boreland, which prosecutors said had been obtained through VAT fraud.