Gilligan’s jail sentence reduced to 20 years

The Court of Criminal Appeal has reduced the prison sentence handed to convicted drug smuggler John Gilligan to 20 years.

Mr Gilligan was originally sentenced to 28 years by the non-jury Special Criminal Court in March 2001 after being convicted of 11 charges relating to importation, possession and sale of tonnes of cannabis in the 1990s.

He had appealed the severity of the sentence, claiming it was disproportionate to the crimes for which he was convicted.

Mr Gilligan’s lawyers has also claimed that the 28-year sentence, the longest ever handed down for drug offences in Ireland, reflected charges that their client was acquitted of – namely the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin in 1996.