Meehan appeal decision expected

The only person in jail for the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin is today due to hear the outcome of an appeal against his sentence.

Brian Meehan, (aged 41), from Crumlin, Dublin, was jailed for life by the Special Criminal Court in July 1999 for the murder.

The non-jury court also handed him down concurrent sentences of 20, 12, 10 and five years for firearms and drugs offences.

Last month the Court of Criminal Appeal reserved its judgment after a two-day hearing on a challenge to the convictions brought by Meehan.

The Special Criminal Court ha found that Meehan was the driver of the motorbike from which a gunman shot Ms Guerin on the Naas Road in Dublin on June 26, 1996.

In his appeal, Meehan’s counsel argued the trial court should not have accepted evidence of phone traffic between Meehan’s mobile and the mobile of a witness, Russell Warren, on the day of the murder as corroboration of Warren’s evidence.