John Gilligan has lost his appeal against his conviction and sentence for importing and supplying drugs.
Gilligan leaves the Supreme Court today after the failure of his latest attempt to have his 20-year sentence reduced. Photo: Niall Carson/PA
In a majority decision of the Supreme Court today, it was found that although the appeal by Gilligan, one of the most infamous criminals in the State, was valid, there were no grounds for reducing the sentence.
Ms Justice Susan Denham, representing the majority view, found the 20-year sentence handed down by the Court of Criminal Appeal (CCA) in 2003 - reducing the original sentence by eight years - was appropriate.
She said age was not a particular issue for Gilligan and that it was correct he face a stiffer sentence than other gang members because he was the leader. This reversed the CCA finding.
It was also noted that he was in possession of drugs for for commercial gain rather than for feeding a habit and that he had made considerable profit from this enterprise. He also had previous convictions.
"This immediately places him in a more serious position for sentencing . . . there was no evidence of any mitigating factor," Ms Denham found.
The court was split on whether it had jurisdiction to hear the appeal because of the State's objection to the appellant introducing matters that were not the subject of the referral to the Supreme Court.
Mrs Justice McGuinness and Mr Justice Geoghegan supported Mrs Justice Denham in finding that although the CCA referred an important point of law relating to Gilligan's appeal against his sentence, his lawyers were also entitled to appeal against his conviction.
Mrs Justice Macken supported Mr Justice Fennelly, who argued that in relation to Gilligan's conviction, there was no constitutional issue at stake and therefore only the sentence should be considered.
Gilligan was convicted of possessing 20,000 kilos of cannabis and sentenced to 28 years in 2001.
During the years leading up to his trial, he was chief suspect in the murder of celebrated crime reporter Veronica Guerin in 1996, but he has consistently denied having anything to with the killing.
Ms Guerin had written several exposés of Gilligan.