Killer Horgan must await ruling on robbery appeal

CONVICTED killer and rapist Ian Horgan will have to wait to the new year to find out if his appeal against the conviction he received for the robbery of a post office has been successful.

Yesterday, the three judge Court of Criminal Appeal, consisting of Mr Justice Joseph Finnegan presiding, Mr Justice Paul Gilligan and Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne reserved judgment in an appeal by Ian Horgan against his conviction in November 2007 for the robbery of a post office.

Horgan, aged 24, The Hermitage, Macroom, Co Cork, was found guilty at Cork Circuit Criminal Court of robbing Clondrohid Post Office near Macroom and stealing a car from outside the premises on September 6, 2005. Horgan, who denied the charges, received an eight year prison sentence.

In his appeal Horgan claims that his conviction is unsafe because warrants obtained by the gardaí to search his home following the robbery were not properly validated, were defective and breached his constitutional rights.

The court adjourned Horgan appeal’s against the severity of sentence. It will be heard after the appeal against conviction has been determined.

Horgan was convicted of committing the robbery while he was out on bail after he had successfully appealed his conviction for the murder of Cork woman Rachel Kiely. Horgan was convicted in 2002 of the murder of beautician Ms Kiely, 22, in Ballincollig in October 2000. Horgan was 16 years of age at the time.

He successfully appealed the conviction in 2004 and was released on bail.

In 2006 he pleaded guilty to Ms Kiely’s manslaughter and was found guilty of her rape and was sentenced at the Central Criminal Court to eight years in jail, with six years suspended due to time he had already served.

In April 2007 the CCA substituted a 12-year sentence on both counts backdated to 2001.

Because the robbery offences were committed while he was out on High Court bail, Horgan’s sentence must run consecutively to the term he received for the rape and manslaughter.