Gilligan gets 6 more months for mobile

Convicted drugs dealer John Gilligan has been given a further six months prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to possession of a mobile phone at Portlaoise District Court almost two years ago.

Gilligan is due for release from jail in April next year but the Special Criminal Court yesterday jailed him for a consecutive six months sentence.

Gilligan, aged 59, whose address was given as “care of Portlaoise Prison”, pleaded guilty to possession of a “mobile telecommunications device” whilst in lawful custody at Portlaoise District Court on Mar 30, 2010.

He was cleared in 2001 of the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin in June 1996, but was convicted by the Special Criminal Court in March 2001 of 11 offences of unlawfully importing cannabis resin into the state on dates between July 1, 1994 and Oct 6, 1996, and unlawful possession of cannabis resin for sale or supply on the same dates.

Gilligan was originally sentenced to 28 years in prison for the drugs offences, but this was reduced on appeal to 20 years.

He was also convicted in June 2002 of threatening to kill two prison officers in March 2001 and was given a two-year prison sentence to run consecutively after the 20-year sentence. Last March, he was given an eight-month prison sentence at Portlaoise court for having a mobile phone in his cell at Portlaoise Prison on July 30, 2008.

Detective Garda Pat Scully told the court yesterday that, during his trial at Portlaoise District Court in 2010, Gilligan, who was defending himself and was seated at the front of the court, was seen by gardaí rooting in a shopping bag which contained his legal documents.

He was seen to detach something from underneath the bench and to drop it in the bag. When Gilligan was searched by prison staff a mobile phone was retrieved from the shopping bag.

He was interviewed by gardaí and told them that he believed that when he was in court, the Prisons Act did not apply and he had not broken the law. He told gardaí that he intended to use the phone to contact his solicitor and then he was going to break it up.

Cross-examined by John Peart, defending, Det Gda Scully agreed that Gilligan had already been dealt with by the prison governor for having the mobile phone in court and had been given 60 days in the segregation unit with loss of privileges.

Mr Justice Paul Butler, presiding, said the court sentenced him to six months to start from the conclusion of his current sentence.