John Gilligan
At Court of Criminal Appeal
The Court of Criminal Appeal has been told that John Gilligan was the top wholesaler of extraordinary quantities of cannabis, who never showed any remorse for his activities and never assisted the gardaí.
Gilligan has appealed the severity of his 28-year sentence for drug dealing. The Court of Criminal Appeal has reserved its judgement in the case.
During today's hearing, Gilligan's counsel said the sentence handed down by the Special Criminal Court in March 2001 was grossly offensive and wrong in principle.
In the Court of Criminal Appeal last August, Gilligan lost his appeal against his conviction.
Gilligan was convicted of 11 drug-related offences involving the importation and possession for sale and supply of a vast quantity of cannabis resin.
Longest drug offence sentence
He was given the longest sentence ever handed down for drug offences. At his trial he was acquitted of murdering the journalist Veronica Guerin and of firearms offences.
When the Court of Criminal Appeal rejected his appeal against his conviction they did find that it would be unsafe to find that Gilligan was the leader of the so-called drugs gang.
The appeal judges rejected submissions from Gilligan's legal team that evidence against him had been bought through the witness protection programme. They said that it was not borne out that their evidence was bought or that they were bribed.
