Gilligan gun examined to determine if it was used in Guerin murder 

John Gilligan and his son have been arrested in Spain END 8/6/2016 Gilligan Case. John Gilligan on his way into the Supreme Court this morning for a hearing to an application by him and his family to try to stop the Criminal Assets Bureau selling three properties. CAB seized an eight-bedroom house at Jessbrook, Co Kildare and two houses in west Dublin 20 years ago. Photo: Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie

Spanish police have confirmed that a gun seized in the arrest of convicted drug dealer John Gilligan and others in Alicante on Friday is being examined to see if it is the same weapon used in the murder of Irish journalist Veronica Guerin in 1996.

Although John Gilligan was cleared in 2001 of the murder that shocked the nation, he was subsequently jailed for 28 years in what was then the  longest sentence ever handed down for drug offences.