Murder accused John Gilligan wrote letters to protected witness Russell Warren from his prison cell in England in which he told him that his family was not under threat from him, the Special Criminal Court heard today.
"I hope you are doing OK and I'm sorry for the shit you and your wife and family went through but I could do nothing as I did nothing wrong but I have a big, big fight on my hands. I will say goodnight and God Bless. Please take care and I wish you all the best," Warren says Mr Gilligan wrote in a letter with a date stamp of January 8th, 1997.
Mr Gilligan is also reported to have asked Warren in the letter to contact his brother Thomas Gilligan and his wife Geraldine. Warren told the court that after receiving the letter he contacted Detective Garda Bernie Hanley and he met Thomas Gilligan in March, 1997.
Warren said that two detectives were close by when he met Thomas Gilligan and he added: "I didn't want to go on my own because I was afraid something would happen."
In another letter which was smuggled into Arbour Hill prison two or three months ago, where Warren is serving a five years sentence for stealing the motorbike used in the Guerin murder, Mr Gilligan is said to have wrote that there was no need to have his family worried about "people trying to get at them."
Warren said Mr Gilligan wrote that "me, Brian and Paul are not even thinking like that."
He also wrote that there was no need for Warren's family to leave Dublin and to put it out of their minds that they have to.
Gilligan also wrote that all he wanted was for Warren to "tell the truth" in court and he added: "It should not be lies."
The letters were read to the court by Warren who also told the court that he received two letters from Gilligan in March, 1999.
It was the eighteenth day of the trial of John Gilligan (48), with addresses at Corduff Avenue, Blanchardstown, Dublin; Jessbrook Equestrian Centre, Mucklon, Enfield, Co Kildare; and HM Prison Belmarsh, London, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Sunday Independentcrime reporter Veronica Guerin(37) at Naas Road, Clondalkin, Dublin on June 26th, 1996.
Gilligan also denies fifteen other counts alleging the importation of cannabis and firearms and ammunition offences.
The prosecution has claimed that John Gilligan was "in control and command" of a criminal gang that imported and distributed large amounts of cannabis and that he organised the murder of Ms Guerin.
The trial is continuing.