The Special Criminal Court today turned down a bid by John Gilligan to have Irish Court documents made available to him in jail in Britain. He is fighting his extradition back to Ireland to face a charge of murdering journalist Veronica Guerin in addition to drugs and firearms offences. Today the Special Criminal Court in Dublin rejected an application by Mr Gilligan for a transcript of the information heard by the court when it issued the eighteen extradition warrants. His appeal against extradition has already been rejected by the House of Lords, but Gilligan is due to once again challenge the legality of his detention before the High Court in London on Thursday.
The 47-year-old Dublin man is fighting extradition back to Ireland to face a charge of murdering Veronica Guerin and 17 drugs and firearms charges. He was arrested in London in October 1996 but has been fighting extradition. His appeal is due to be heard before the High Court in London on Thursday. His appeal was turned down by the House of Lords but Gilligan sought a Habeus Corpus order to prevent his return to Ireland and is to appear before the High Court in London on Thursday.
Today the Special Criminal Court heard an application by Gilligan for a transcript of the information heard by the court when it issued the eighteen extradition warrants. Gilligan was not legally represented and the state opposed the application. Mr Justice Johnson said the relevance of the transcripts to his current application before the English High Court could not be established and the court refused Gilligan's application.
