JOHN Boreland was a man who lived on the edge, his paramilitary connections only ever a cover for a lifetime of criminal activity aimed at funding a lifestyle of excess.
A close friend of Andre Shoukri the pair were rarely seen apart, a friendship that dates back many years.
In 1999 the long-term associates were jailed for attempting to extort thousands of pounds from north Belfast restaurant owner Mel Lundy.
Mr Lundy contacted the RUC, who set up an undercover sting. After the case the victim and his family had to flee Northern Ireland and have never returned.
In November 2007 Shoukri and Boreland were jailed for nine years for the extortion and blackmail of the bar manager of Bonaparte's Bar who was forced to flee to England into witness protection.
Shoukri and Boreland had made increasing demands for cash from the woman who was forced to hand over the keys to the Cavehill Road bar along with £4,000 in cash.
In September 2011 Boreland and Shoukri were again arrested and questioned in relation to alleged organised crime by officers investigating a number of warehouse robberies and a tiger kidnapping.
Both were later released without charge.
In 2013 Boreland was jailed for possession of a weapon, the following year he was shot in the leg in an attack alleged to have been linked to tensions among loyalists in north Belfast.
The previous 'bigadier' John Bunting was remanded in custody along with former life sentence prisoner John Howcroft in connection with the shooting.
Bunting and Howcroft had been involved in cross-community work, however, not everyone was in favour of this new dispensation and bad blood had existed between Bunting and the Shoukri faction for many years.
Police appeal for information following the shooting of John Boreland
While all charges against Bunting and Howcroft were later dropped their period on remand allowed their rivals to step in and put what was widely regarded as a puppet leadership in place.
This was headed up by a flag protester with little clout who has made a series of gaffs that have caused tensions between the small faction of the UDA and the more powerful Mount Vernon UVF.
His blunders included ordering a savage beating against the son of a former senior UVF man and attempting to intimidate a female relative of UVF leader John 'Bunter' Graham from her north Belfast home.
Police ask to speak to drivers in area of shooting
Boreland had been one of those 'advising' and some sources say 'winding up' the flag protester turned UDA 'brigadier'. Last week the Irish News reported how that self styled 'brigadier' had fled the area. His purpose served, his usefulness outlived, he is likely to remain in exile for the considerable future.
Despite this backdrop sources claim there was no direct UVF involvement in Boreland's murder.
PUP councillor Billy Hutchinson has a comfortably funded public position and was one of the main supporters of the Loyalist Communities Council that claims to be working to take paramilitaries "off the stage".
While unlikely to be claimed by any group the Boreland killing seems more likely to have been internal.
With the man widely considered as Shoukri's muscle off side there is now an opening for the mainstream UDA to regain lost territory in north Belfast.
Boreland was a man with many enemies and an ever decreasing circle of allies. His murder - while a personal tragedy for his family - now causes major shockwaves within loyalism where grudges run deep and scores continue to be settled at the end of a gun.
