Gilligan sentenced to further six months in jail

Convicted drugs dealer John Gilligan was given a further six-month prison sentence by the Special Criminal Court today after he pleaded guilty to possession of a mobile phone at Portlaoise District Court in 2010.

Gilligan was due for release from jail in April next year but the court today jailed him for a consecutive six-month sentence.

He showed no emotion during the 30-minute hearing at the Criminal Courts of Justice.

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 March 30, 2010.

The native of Ballyfermot, Dublin, 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 various dates between July 1, 1994 and October 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.

In March last year he was also given an eight-month prison sentence at Portlaoise District Court for having a Nokia mobile phone in his cell at Portlaoise Prison on July 30, 2008.

Detective Garda Pat Scully told the court today 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 about the mobile phone and he 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.

Detective Garda Scully said that the earliest date for Gilligan's release from prison is April 2013.

Cross examined by Gilligan's counsel Mr John Peart SC, 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 Peart told the court that he has spent many years in prison and while in prison, four members of his family have died.

Mr Justice Paul Butler, presiding, said that the court had no experience of dealing with the offence but the Oireachtas has fixed a maximum of five years imprisonment for it.

He said that the court took the view that any sanction imposed must mean something to the accused to discourage others from committing the same offence and in the circumstances the court sentenced him to six months imprisonment to start from the conclusion of his current sentence.