Gilligan 'might win appeal over jail term'

The brother of murdered journalist Veronica Guerin said today he was happy that the man cleared of killing her was still behind bars after failing to overturn a drugs conviction.

But Jimmy Guerin said he believed drugs baron John Gilligan might succeed in a new appeal against the severity of his 28-year sentence for drug offences.

Gilligan, 51, was cleared of murdering Veronica Guerin and of firearms offences but was convicted at the Special Criminal Court in 2001 of leading a gang which imported and sold cannabis resin.

Mr Guerin said after today’s appeal hearing at the Court of Criminal Appeal: “I’m very happy that he’s behind bars.”

But he added: “I think the reality is it (his sentence) will be cut back.”

Mr Guerin also said he found some of the points made in the judgment worrying - including the statement that it was “unsafe” to find that Gilligan was actually leader of the drugs gang.

During Gilligan’s appeal his lawyers contested the evidence of his alleged former accomplices – Charles Bowden, Russell Warren and John Dunne – and criticised the way in which the three men were placed on the Witness Protection Programme, under which they were given new identities.

It was alleged during the appeal that the men wrongly benefited from the scheme and that their evidence was “bought“.

Mr Justice McCracken said in his judgment that the programme was “badly thought out and almost developed a life of its own“.

He added: “One can hardly blame the witnesses for trying to get the best benefits they could out of it.”

But there was no proof that their evidence was bought or that they were bribed into testifying, he said.

The evidence given by the men was central to the case, and the authorities were entitled to offer protection to witnesses who feared that they or their families might suffer serious reprisals if they testified.

The judge also dismissed the argument that the boxes of drugs imported by Gilligan might have contained tobacco.

He said this was disproved by the weight of the boxes, which was far heavier than if they had contained tobacco.

The Special Criminal Court was entitled to find beyond reasonable doubt that Gilligan had unlawfully imported the drugs.

The judgment said that while it was unsafe, for a number of reasons, to find that Gilligan was the leader of the drugs gang, he was nevertheless rightly convicted of importing the drugs and having them for illegal sale.

Although he attended last month’s appeal hearing, Gilligan did not travel from Portlaoise Prison to hear today’s verdict.

His lawyers said he would begin a fresh appeal against the severity of his sentence at the beginning of October.

Gilligan’s 28-year term is the longest ever awarded for drug offences in Ireland.

After the hearing, Joe Costello, justice spokesman for the Labour Party, called on the Government to run the Witness Protection Programme on a statutory basis following the court’s criticisms.

“Similar programmes are operating in most developed countries, but they must operate on the basis of specific ground rules to protect against potential miscarriages of justice,” he said, adding that it was not the first time senior Irish judges had criticised the scheme.