Guerin accused earns €1,000 giving legal advice

A CONVICTED drug dealer, named as the killer of Veronica Guerin, has admitted earning up to €1,000 by giving legal advice to fellow inmates in the State’s most high secure prison.

Patrick “Dutchy” Holland, who claims he is the victim of a miscarriage of justice and vehemently denies killing the journalist, made the admission in an interview with the Irish Examiner from inside Portlaoise Prison.

Other inmates seek him out for advice, knowing the 63-year-old’s reputation as a jailhouse lawyer. He has spent much of the last two decades behind bars, having been convicted of armed robbery, possession of explosives and, in 1997, the supply of cannabis.