Gilligan gets 8 more months

JOHN GILLIGAN has been found guilty of possessing a mobile phone in his Portlaoise Prison cell at a sitting of Portlaoise District Court.

After 48 District Court appearances and a High Court appeal, the 59-year-old convicted criminal was given an eight-month consecutive sentence for possessing a Nokia mobile phone at his cell on July 30, 2008.

Prison officers organised an early morning search of Gilligan’s cell after an officer heard a late-night conversation in the cell on July 29, 2008. The phone was found along with a mobile phone charger, a number of pills, a syringe bar and two pairs of women’s underwear.

The court was told Gilligan had spent almost a third of his life in prison and has been behind bars for 18 of the last 20 years.

Counsel for the defence, Niall Flynn, claimed his client had “changed his character ” since being imprisoned and had even become friendly with some prison officers.

Judge Gerard Haughton, said he was satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that “there is sufficient evidence of possession within the charge."