‘I did not shoot Veronica Guerin’

PATRICK ‘Dutchy’ Holland can hardly expect much public sympathy for his plight. An armed robber, who also served a sentence on an explosive’s charge, he is now serving 12 years for drug-dealing.

Holland, who will be eligible for a free bus pass when he is released from prison in two years, has spent most of the last two decades behind bars.

He has also been named publicly as the man who shot journalist Veronica Guerin. Dutchy Holland freely admits he is a crook. But is he a killer and is his drug conviction a serious miscarriage of justice?

Holland, 63, believes he was wrongly convicted on the drug charge and will argue so in the Four Courts before the end of the year.

He was convicted in November 1997 and sentenced by the Special Criminal Court to 20 years in prison, a stunning sentence for someone done for dealing cannabis and only surpassed by the 28-year term handed down to gang leader John Gilligan.

It was reduced to 12 on appeal.

His conviction certainly raises questions. He was convicted largely on the evidence of Charles Bowden, a protected witness repeatedly described as a liar in a series of trials involving the Gilligan gang. Bowden said Holland was the one referred to as The Wig a distributor.

Other evidence included alleged admissions made in interviews with gardaí and the discovery of two forged driving licences at his home.

The admissions amounted to three disputed statements, including Holland saying he was not a big drug dealer and that he had his own customers.

Gardaí believed he was the pillion passenger on the bike and the man who fired the shots that killed Ms Guerin on the Naas Road on July 26, 1996. Yet, witnesses described the shooter as a large, stocky man aged around 30. "They are talking about a fellow a lot bigger than me," he said.

As the film about the life and death of the journalist continues to play to packed audiences across the country, Holland protests his innocence. "I did not shoot Veronica Guerin," he told the Irish Examiner from Portlaoise prison. He has his own suspicions about who actually pulled the trigger.

Holland has been portrayed as a murdering psychopath involved in a number of deaths. Ms Guerin's brother Jimmy is on record as saying he believes Holland was the killer.

There is also a widely-circulated claim that he was the person who shot Tom Nevin, the Wicklow publican murdered on the orders of his wife, Catherine.

Holland, who between prison sentences lived for a short time in Brittas Bay, is aware of the claim and describes it as a joke. "I went in to that pub (Jack Whites) once. I didn't even know her," he said.

A self-educated jailhouse law expert, Holland has had plenty of time to go over the events that led him to being convicted and sentenced as an associate of Gilligan deeply involved in importation and supply of millions of euro worth of cannabis. His story has remained consistent.

In November 1994, he was released from prison after serving a number of years for possession of explosives. He set up a printing business and among his clients were Gilligan and Charles Bowden.

"I knew John from Portlaoise. I used to give him legal advice," said Holland. On his release, he kept in contact with Gilligan, doing some printing work for Jessbrook, the gang leader's equestrian centre in Kildare.

Holland also revealed he gave Gilligan advice when he was charged with assaulting Ms Guerin, a case listed to be heard just days after she was shot. "I always said he could not lose the case because he had three witnesses to say that it had not happened," he said.

During that time, he claims to have met Bowden a couple of times, once to discuss printing flyers for Bowden's hairdressing business.

The way Holland tells it, he left prison and set up a legitimate business, though remained in contact with gangland figures. He admits buying his house in Brittas Bay with money he had made prior to his previous prison sentence.

According to gardaí, he immediately returned to crime. He was one of several people gardaí questioned in connection with about the murder of Patrick Shanahan, a Dublin criminal and building contractor.

While admitting involvement in armed robbery, Holland claims he has never hurt anybody in his life, let alone killed someone.

Holland, it is said, became involved in drugs when his businesses began to fail. It is claimed he made €600,000 as one of the distributors of 2,000kg of cannabis imported to Ireland by Gilligan's gang in a two-year period to October 1996.

It was in October, Holland claims, that he first became a suspect in the murder case. "A fellow rang me and says 'they are talking of you being involved in the murder of Veronica Guerin'," he said.

He left the country and in January the following year was publicly named as the prime suspect. During his time in England, he claims to have met Bowden for the last time outside a court.

Holland said: "He asked me how did I get involved in all this. He was very amicable. I told him I would help him anyway I can. I said I would get you into the US, get him a job and get him into the unions.

"He was with his wife. Now, would you in your right mind bring your wife to meet me if I am the lunatic they say I am?"

On the advice of his solicitor, Holland returned to Ireland to face questioning about the murder of Ms Guerin. On his return through Dun Laoghaire, he was arrested. He was taken to Lucan where he was questioned and then charged with drugs offences.

"Drugs had never been mentioned. I came back believing I was going to be questioned about Veronica Guerin. I was never accused of doing any drugs until I was charged with it," said Holland.