Gilligan wins right to appeal conviction in Supreme Court

Convicted drug dealer John Gilligan today won the right to appeal his conviction on two points of law in the Supreme Court.

The court will decide whether evidence given by witnesses - Charles Bowden, Russell Warren and John Dunne - on a Witness Protection Program (WPP) was admissible during his 2001 trial and secondly whether corroboration of their testimony was required.

Ruling on the case, the Criminal Court of Appeal's Justice McCracken, acknowledged that there were sufficient doubts as to whether certain evidence obtained under the WPP was admissible, due to existing suspicion that inducements were offered to witnesses.

Justice McCracken also granted the application for a Section 29 ruling on the grounds that in some instances of the original case it appeared that differing levels of corroboration were required for the testimonies of separate witnesses.

Justice McCracken stressed that the finding was not an indication of the court being wrong, but that it could set precedent for future cases and therefore needs to be heard by the Supreme Court.

Both of these finding were deemed as "points of law of sufficient public importance" to come under Section 29.

Gilligan's solicitor Mr Joe Rice welcomed the ruling and said he was confident the conviction would be overturned.

"Now that the case has been referred to the Supreme Court we are hopeful that we will get a very full hearing," he said.

"Mr Gilligan has always maintained his innocence and given the length of time he has been in custody we are very anxious that he gets an early hearing.

"I am confident that we can overturn the conviction on these two points."

Mr Rice reiterated that if today's application had been unsuccessful he would have taken the case to the European Court of Human Rights.

In November, Gilligan lost an appeal against his conviction but had a 28-year sentence, for having millions of pounds worth of cannabis resin for sale and supply, reduced to 20 years by the Court of Criminal Appeal.

He is serving an additional five-year sentence for threatening to kill a prison officer's family at Portlaoise prison.

- additonal reporting by PA