Gilligan told he will serve further two years in jail

Drug dealer John Gilligan will not be released from prison until 2013 after the Court of Criminal Appeal imposed an additional two-year sentence on him for threatening to kill two prison officers.

Gilligan, who is already serving 20 years arising from his drug-dealing activities in the 1990s, threatened to kill the officers in a row over a prison tuck shop in 2001.

The new two-year sentence will only begin when his 20-year sentence has expired.

That means, with remission, Gilligan will not be due for release until the spring of 2013 when he will be aged 61. He has been in prison since 1996.

The Court of Criminal Appeal last month overturned a five-year sentence imposed by the Special Criminal Court in 2002 on Gilligan for threatening to kill the officers.

At the original trial, the court was told Gilligan had punched one of the prison officers in the jaw. However, he was acquitted of assault charges. During last month's appeal hearing, the court reaffirmed the conviction for threatening the officers but said it would impose a shorter sentence at a later hearing, which took place yesterday.

The three-judge court quashed the sentence after finding that it was not proportionate when combined with the 20-year sentence Gilligan was already serving.

Gilligan, with addresses at Corduff Avenue, Blanchardstown, Dublin, and at the Jessbrook Equestrian Centre, Mucklon, Enfield, Co Kildare, was initially jailed for 28 years by the Special Criminal Court in 2001 for drugs offences but that sentence was reduced by the Court of Criminal Appeal to 20 years.

After a lengthy trial, which began in late 2000, the Special Criminal Court cleared Gilligan in 2001 of the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin in June 1996 and acquitted him of firearms charges.

Gilligan did not speak during the brief hearing.