Gilligan associate quizzed over threat to kill warder

AN ASSOCIATE of crime boss John Gilligan has been questioned by gardaí after allegedly threatening to kill a senior prison officer in Portlaoise Prison.

Paul Ward, who had his conviction for the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin overturned in 1999, is due for release in the coming week.

He is completing a 10-year sentence for his part in a prison siege in Mountjoy Jail in 1997, in which five prison officers were held hostage.