Veronica Guerin’s killer to have date confirmed for his appeal

A date for Brian Meehan's bid to have his conviction for the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin declared a miscarriage of justice will be fixed next month.

Meehan (47), from Crumlin in Dublin, is serving a life sentence in Portlaoise prison having being convicted in July 1999 of the murder of Veronica Guerin in June 1996 following a 31 day trial before the non-jury Special Criminal Court. He was also jailed on drugs and firearms charges.

Meehan has applied to quash his 1999 murder conviction on the basis of new evidence.

The new evidence concerns matters which emerged in the course the 2001 Special Criminal Court trial of John Gilligan.

Meehan’s appeal is being brought under Section 2 of the Criminal Procedures Act on the basis that there was a miscarriage of justice.

The Special Criminal Court found that Meehan drove a motorbike up to the side of Ms Guerin’s car on the Naas Road and a pillion passenger on the bike fired a number of shots at the Sunday Independent journalist, resulting in her death.

Meehan is seeking to bring an application under Section 2 of the Criminal Procedure Act 1993, as he contends that “new facts” emanating from material disclosed for the 2001 trial of John Gilligan show Meehan’s conviction was a miscarriage of justice.

Mr Gilligan was cleared of the murder of Veronica Guerin but was convicted of the importation and possession of cannabis resin.

The Director of Public Prosecutions’ motion to dismiss the application had been refused by the Court of Criminal Appeal earlier this year.

Submissions on behalf of Meehan are nearly ready, the Court of Appeal heard, and the case was listed for mention again on December 15th with a view to fixing a date for hearing.