Thug who battered pensioner to death quits NI over his past

Brute ‘trying to escape flak he gets back in Bangor for cowardly killing’

Colin Boles

Ciaran Barnes Email

July 12 2021 09:02 AM

A cowardly killer who beat a pensioner to death for refusing to give him a cigarette has quit Northern Ireland for a new life in Liverpool.

Bangor-born Colin Boles moved across the Irish Sea because of the grief he was getting about his conviction.

The 36-year-old was off his head on drugs when be violently attacked innocent Russell McMahon (70) in 2001. He repeatedly stamped on his frail victim’s head leaving him with horrific injuries that were compared to a high-speed car smash.

Russell McMahon

Mr McMahon’s ‘crime’ was not to give an aggressive Boles a cigarette as he walked past him in Bangor’s Castle Park. The thug served 12 years in prison for murder before being freed in 2014.

Boles, who grew up in the north Down town’s Whitehill estate, is understood to have moved to Liverpool having been unable to escape the shame of killing a defenceless pensioner.

“He’s got a girl over there, God help her,” said a source who knew the bully-boy from his time in Maghaberry Prison.

“Boles has been in Liverpool for a while, he just couldn’t resettle in the community here because people kept bringing up what he did to that old man.

“He’s a real hot-head and I don’t think he trusted himself not to react because it would mean his licence being suspended and him being recalled to prison. That’s why he moved to Liverpool — to get away from that.”

Although he is no longer behind bars Boles is on licence for the rest of his life meaning he can be returned to jail at any time if the authorities suspect he presents a danger to the public.

EXILED: Colin Boles has given an insight into his new life in Liverpool on social media

After being charged with the murder of Russell McMahon a lying Boles denied any involvement only to enter a guilty plea on the eve of his 2003 trial.

He finally confessed when two pals came forward to say they had met him in a panicked state on the night of the “despicable” killing.

The friends also revealed Boles was covered in blood and left traces of this in a car they were in together, giving police a vital DNA breakthrough.

After viewing the helpless pensioner’s injuries, Detective Inspector Todd Clements said: “He (Boles) carried out a despicable and totally unprovoked attack. Mr McMahon had been beaten very severely.”

In 2014 Boles and his killer pal Roy Craig were sacked from jobs at the Timpson Locksmiths store in the centre of Belfast over claims they had not disclosed their murder convictions to bosses.

Images from Boles’ new Liverpool home posted on social media show him swigging from a can of beer and enjoying a camping trip and barbecue.

cbarnes@sundaylife.co.uk