Harris Boyle

Harris Boyle
Harris Boyle
Born	1953 Portadown, County Armagh, Northern Ireland
Died	31 July 1975 (aged 22) Buskhill, County Down, Northern Ireland
Allegiance	Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) British Army (Ulster Defence Regiment)
Rank	Major (UVF)
Unit	Mid-Ulster Brigade (UVF)
Conflict	The Troubles

Harris Boyle (1953 – 31 July 1975) was an Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) soldier and a high-ranking member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary organisation. Boyle was implicated in the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings, and took part in the attack at Buskhill, County Down when an armed UVF gang wearing British Army uniforms ambushed The Miami Showband at a bogus military checkpoint. The popular Irish cabaret band was driving home to Dublin after a performance in Banbridge. He was one of the two gunmen killed when the bomb they had loaded onto the band's minibus exploded prematurely. He is sometimes referred to as Horace Boyle.

Boyle was born in Portadown, County Armagh, and grew up in the working-class Killycomain estate. He was raised as a Protestant and attended Edenderry Primary School. On an unknown date, Boyle joined both the Portadown company of the UDR (as a part-time member) and the Portadown unit of the UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade. He held the rank of major in the latter organisation, which at the time was commanded by Billy Hanna. Despite a vetting process, joint membership of the UDR and loyalist paramilitary organisations was common. Paramilitaries joined to obtain weapons, training and intelligence.

Vetting procedures were carried out jointly by the military Intelligence Corps and the Royal Ulster Constabulary's Special Branch and if no intelligence was found to suggest unsuitability individuals were passed for recruitment and would remain as soldiers until the commanding officer was provided with intelligence enabling him to remove soldiers with paramilitary links or sympathies.

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