Irish criminal Patrick 'Dutchy' Holland has been jailed for eight years by a London court for his involvement in a plan to kidnap a businessman in return for a ransom of €13m.
The plot was foiled when armed detectives arrested five people, including 68-year-old Holland, last May.
He was detained by armed officers in the Lewisham area of London, along with three other men and a woman.
Her role in the plot was to flirt with a London businessman and lure him to a location where other members of the gang would then kidnap him.
But unknown to them, they were being monitored by police who moved in before the kidnapping could be carried out.
Last month, the five were convicted by a jury at Blackfriars Crown Court.
Today Holland was jailed for eight years while his accomplices received sentences of between four and 11 years.
In April 2006, Holland was released from Portlaoise Prison, having served nine years of a 12-year sentence for possession of cannabis.
When he was convicted in 1997 at the Special Criminal Court, Holland was the first member of John Gilligan's drugs gang to be jailed.
During his trial, Holland was named by a garda witness as a suspect in the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin in 1996.
Holland has repeatedly denied this allegation.
