Gilligan loses court fight for properties

One of Ireland’s most notorious criminals, John Gilligan, today lost a High Court fight to keep control of his properties.

The Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) was granted an order allowing its solicitor to be appointed the legal caretaker of five properties owned by the convicted drug trafficker and his family.

These include the Jessbrook equestrian centre, in Co Kildare, with a house and lands beside it, as well as two houses in Lucan and another in Blanchardstown, West Dublin.

Mr Justice Kevin Feeney said his primary concern in granting the CAB receivership was to ensure the preservation of the properties and to have them fully insured.

Gilligan was in a packed courtroom in central Dublin for the judgment after more than two weeks of hearings, which saw accusations about the murder of Veronica Guerin thrust back into the media spotlight.

Amid massive security, everyone who entered Court 16, in the Four Courts, passed through metal detectors and was fully searched, in scenes usually only seen in the Special Criminal Court.