John Gilligan, who was cleared of the murder of journalist Ms Veronica Guerin today, was jailed by the Special Criminal Court for 28 years for importing cannabis resin. This is the longest sentence ever handed down in the State for drugs offences.
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John Gilligan has been acquitted of the murder of Veronica Guerin
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Mr Justice Diarmuid O'Donovan, presiding, said the court had no doubt that Gilligan "reaped staggering profits" from the drugs enterprise and was a man "of insatiable greed".
"The court is at a loss to find words to express its revulsion for what you have done," the judge said.
The judge said that Gilligan was responsible for "an avalanche of drugs."
"Never in the history of Irish criminal jurisprudence has one person been presumed to have caused so much wretchedness to so many. A haemorrhage of harm that is unlikely to heal in a generation."
Mr Justice O'Donovan said Gilligan may have a fortune hidden away and the court hoped the fortune would be found by the Criminal Assets Bureau and that it would confiscate it.
But the judge said that, given the sentence the court was imposing, it was unlikely Gilligan would ever enjoy it.
The court also noted Gilligan had expressed no remorse or regret for what he had done.
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Veronica Guerin: gunned down in 1996
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Ms Guerin's brother, Mr Jimmy Guerin, said the 28 years sentence was "appropriate" although he expressed his disappointment that Gilligan was acquitted of the murder. "I would have been a lot happier had he been convicted of murder. I was saddened that he was not found guilty of the murder," he said.
John Gilligan (48), with addresses at Corduff Avenue, Blanchardstown, Dublin, Jessbrook Equestrian Centre, Mucklon, Enfield, Co Kildare, and HM Prison Belmarsh, London was cleared of the murder of Sunday Independentcrime reporter Veronica Guerin (37) at Naas Road, Clondalkin, Dublin on June 26th, 1996.
Gilligan was also cleared of four counts alleging possession of a Sten submachine gun, a silenced barrel, two magazines, a 9 mm Agram machine pistol, five Walther semi-automatic pistols, four magazines and 1,057 rounds of assorted ammunition with intent to endanger life or to enable another person to endanger life at Oldcourt Road, Tallaght, Dublin between November 10th, 1995, and October 3rd, 1996.
He was convicted of eleven offences alleging that he unlawfully imported cannabis resin into the State on various dates between July 1st, 1994, and October 6th, 1996, that he unlawfully possessed cannabis resin for sale or supply on the same dates and that on or about October 3rd, 1996, at Greenmount Industrial Estate, Harold's Cross, Dublin, he had cannabis resin for sale or supply.
The prosecution claimed Gilligan was the leader of a gang that imported thousands of kilos of cannabis into the country and that Ms Guerin was shot because an assault case she was taking against Gilligan threatened to disrupt the drugs business.
Other members of the gang allegedly included Charles Bowden, Brian Meehan, Paul Ward and two other men who cannot be named by order of the court.
During the 43-day trial the three judges at the non-jury court heard evidence from almost 200 witnesses, including three men currently in the Witness Protection Programme, John Dunne, Charles Bowden and Russell Warren. All three are serving prison sentences in Arbour Hill prison.
Dunne gave evidence that he was introduced to Gilligan in a Co Dublin pub and that Gilligan arranged for packages to be shipped to Ireland from Holland through the freight company in Cork where Dunne was the operations manager.
Bowden told the court he met Gilligan on three occasions and that he spoke to him by mobile phone. He said he met Gilligan outside the Gresham Hotel where he handed over money to him, that he met him briefly at the Ambassador Hotel in Co Kildare when he was making a drugs collection and that he met him after the Guerin murder at the house of his brother, Mr Thomas Gilligan.
Bowden also said he cleaned and loaded the Magnum .357 revolver used in Ms Guerin's murder the day before the killing and left it in the lock-up premises at the Greenmount Industrial Estate in Harolds's Cross, Dublin, used by the drugs gang.
Warren said he collected and counted money for Gilligan from early 1996 and delivered money to England, Belgium and Amsterdam. He said he never travelled with less than £100,000 and usually changed the money at a bureau de change at Amsterdam's Central Station.
Two other men were previously found guilty of the murder of Ms Guerin. Meehan, the driver of the motorbike on the day of the murder, was jailed for life in July 1999 for the murder and Ward, who disposed of the motorbike, was also jailed for life in November 1998 for the murder.