IRISH CRIME BOSS REARRESTED.
Gun allegedly linked to 1996 slaying found
A notorious Irish criminal has been arrested nearly 20 years from his acquittal over a journalist’s murder, following the discovery of the suspected murder weapon.
John Gilligan was cleared in 2001 of ordering the killing of Veronica Guerin, an Irish investigative journalist who was gunned down on the outskirts of Dublin in 1996.
The drug baron subsequently served 17 years in prison for importing cannabis resin until he was released in 2013. He has since divided his time between England and Spain.
Friday, it emerged that Gilligan had been arrested by Spanish police after a gun was found hidden in the garden of a commercial premises on the Costa Blanca. Spanish ballistics experts are now analyzing the weapon to confirm whether it is the Colt Python revolver a hit man on a motorbike used to murder the 37-year-old reporter after she stopped at traffic lights in her car.
Police sources in Spain said the weapon was the “same brand and model.” A source said: “Gilligan’s arrest followed an investigation into a gang of suspected drugs traffickers.
“The weapon was found hidden and buried during one of the police searches that formed part of this investigation.”
Another source added: “It is too early at this stage to say whether the gun that has been found is the one used to murder Veronica Guerin but it is the same brand and model. The weapon was found during police searches sparked by an investigation into a gang that was sending marijuana and prescription drugs sold by street dealers to addicts from Spain to Ireland and the UK. Drugs have been seized as well as the gun.”
Six people, including Gilligan, have been arrested in Spain as part of the operation.
The murder of Guerin inspired a 2003 biographical Hollywood film, Veronica Guerin, starring Cate Blanchett. Guerin had built a career writing about the Irish underworld and was murdered while working as a crime reporter for the Sunday Independent.
In the months before her murder, Guerin had filed charges for assault against Gilligan after he allegedly hit her at his equestrian centre in Co Kildare when she tried to question him about how he made his money.
Gilligan, now 68, was cleared of masterminding the killing in March 2001 after a 43-day trial at Dublin’s Special Criminal Court. Judge Diarmuid O’donovan said he had “grave suspicions” he was involved in the killing.
He survived an attempt on his life five months after leaving prison in 2013.