Convicted drug trafficker John Gilligan was today jailed for two years for threatening to kill two prison officers in a prison tuck shop row.
A file picture of John Gilligan outside a Dublin court in 2000
Gilligan (54), who is serving 20 years in Portlaoise high security prison for importing cannabis, attacked the pair only a week into that jail sentence.
He had previously been given a five-year sentence to run consecutively over the incident but the Court of Criminal Appeal overturned that after finding it was disproportionate when combined with his sentence for drug smuggling.
The three judge court today imposed a two-year sentence for the death threats to run consecutively to his 20 years.
The incident occurred in 2001 days after Gilligan was sent to Portlaoise. The row broke out as he being taken to see his lawyer in the jail.
The court previously heard that Gilligan wanted to use the tuck shop and went to seek permission but the prison officer Martin Ryan refused, telling him he hoped he would do every day of his sentence.
The row then broke out with Gilligan threatening to kill Mr Ryan and his colleague Declan O'Reilly. He was cleared of assaulting him.
The court heard today that Mr Ryan took the death threats very seriously and is still being seen by a psychiatrist.
Gilligan, who appeared in the court, looked on intently as his lawyer, Michael O'Higgins SC asked the court to take into account several mitigating factors. He told the court the row occurred in the heat of the moment, in a fairly tinder-like atmosphere and was not premeditated.
Mr O'Higgins said Gilligan had already been punished for the row spending three days in solitary confinement, two months loss of privileges with no access to the gym and 14 days loss of remission. He went on to say that on his release, Gilligan, will be a pensioner.
A report from the Governor of Portlaoise Prison which was handed in to the court revealed that Gilligan had not faced any disciplinary action in the jail since that incident.
Gilligan, who was cleared of the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin in June 1996, has a string of other convictions including four offences against the person.