Feared gangland thug broke cop's nose during ‘disgraceful' attack

Sunday World

19-07-2025

Hugh Boyce is the former right-hand man of the murdered drugs kingpin Malcolm McKeown
Gangland thug Hugh Boyce was jailed this week after he broke one cops nose and spat in the face of another during an orgy of violence.
Boyce, pictured here when we confronted him on the street in 2023 about an attack on the son of murdered gangster Malcolm McKeown, was ordered to serve ten months behind bars after the court was told he described his own behaviour as a 'disgraceful episode'.
Boyce is the former right-hand man of the murdered drugs kingpin McKeown sr but has a shocking number of violent convictions and has settled a number of scores against former gang rivals both inside and outside of jail.
Crime boss McKeown, whose brother Clifford was jailed for life for the murder of Catholic taxi driver Michael McGoldrick, was shot dead in a hail of bullets at a petrol station forecourt in Waringstown in 2019.
Malcolm McKeown was murdered in 2019
Boyce, with an address at Lakeview Meadow in Lurgan, also admitted making threats to damage property, breaching a restraining order and improper use of a telecommunications network to send 'a message or other matter that was grossly offensive.'
Following the admissions, a further charge of burglary with intent to cause damage was withdrawn by the prosecution.
The PPS lawyer told the court how occupant of a property on Hidden Terrace, Mountnorris, was contacted by her neighbour on 14 December last year, reporting that 'alarms were going off…and there was water coming from her roof space.'
Career criminal Huge Boyce
Today's News in 90 Seconds - July 19th
Police arrived at the scene and they found Boyce 'hiding in the shed outside.'
When they tried to arrest him however, he 'becomes aggressive' and attacked the officers, breaking the nose of one constable and spitting in the face and mouth of another.
'He made threats that he would burn their houses out,' said the prosecutor, adding that during police interviews Boyce refused to answer questions.
Defence counsel told the court Boyce himself conceded 'it was a disgraceful episode' and further that given his record, 'he is no stranger to custody.'
District Judge Michael Ranaghan said it was his view the ABH 'is the headline offence' so imposing ten months jail on that charge, he ordered the other, lesser sentences to be served concurrently.
Back in 2019 when Boyce was jailed for two years for his role in a campaign of intimidation and arson attacks directed at police officers' houses and cars, he was named in court as second in command in Malcolm McKeown's mid-Ulster gang.
Malcolm McKeown
The campaign against cops and staff of a Banbridge hotel began in 2015 when McKeown's gang were refused entry to the hotel's nightclub but eventually, cops placed covert listening devices in a car of a fellow gang member and recorded Boyce discussing drug deals, plans to burn down a pub in Craigavon and about balaclavas, gloves, climbing over walls and petrol bombs.
Boyce was convicted of attacking McKeown's son Malcolm Jnr as he sat in his car at a petrol station in Lurgan.
He was approached by Boyce who had got out of a BMW X5 and proceeded to open McKeown's car door, immediately punching him in the face.
When he got out of the car, McKeown was kneed and punched once more by Boyce.
When the Sunday World confronted Boyce about that attack, he said: 'It's nothing to do with you. It happened yeah but it's all been dealt with in court already.'