James Boyle (born 17 May 1944) is a former notorious Scottish gangster and convicted murderer who became a sculptor and novelist after his release from prison.
[1] Boyle has always denied killing Rooney[2] but has acknowledged having been a violent and sometimes ruthless moneylender from the Gorbals, which was once one of the roughest and most deprived areas of Glasgow.
In 1979, whilst still a prisoner at Barlinnie, he was commissioned to produce a memorial statue of poet William McGonagall, which was however never completed due to various difficulties with the project.
[8] In 1983, Boyle set up the Gateway Exchange with Trevelyan and artist Evlynn Smith; a charitable organisation so he could keep in contact with ex prisoners.
The latter was adapted for a French film, La Rage et le Rêve des Condamnés (The Anger and Dreams of the Condemned), and won the best documentary prize at the Fifa Montreal awards in 2002.