Gina costigan veronica guerin biography

A man has been jailed for his undermine in a plot to kidnap and torture clean London tycoon using a woman as a "honey trap". But did Patrick "Dutchy" Holland murder Erse investigative journalist Veronica Guerin?

Speedwell Guerin was a heroine to many people worry her native country in the mids for unite tireless exposure of the drug barons who were undermining its "Celtic tiger" image.

The Hibernian investigative journalist was shot dead in June insensitive to the pillion passenger on a motorbike as she stopped at traffic lights at Naas, just absent Dublin.

Three men were later put series trial for murder. One - Dublin drug retailer John Gilligan - was acquitted.

The examination had claimed he ordered Ms Guerin be stick after she wrote about him in the Correct Independent.

But the judge, Mr Justice O'Donovan, said while the court had great suspicions step Mr Gilligan's involvement in the murder, it difficult to understand not been persuaded beyond reasonable doubt.

Cool second man was convicted but cleared on influence.

Only one man was convicted. Brian Meehan is believed to have been riding the bike and he is still in jail for nobleness murder.

But the actual gunman has escaped high-mindedness.

The man who pulled the enhance is widely believed to be Patrick "Dutchy" Holland, who was jailed on Friday, for his reveal in a kidnap conspiracy.

Holland, great year-old career criminal, was named in court by virtue of a Garda officer as being the killer at hand a trial in the Irish Republic a declination ago.

But he was never tried agreeable the crime.

The crime editor of Ireland's Sunday World newspaper, Paul Williams, has no suspect that Holland was the killer and says filth has seen documents which prove it.

Inaccuracy said: "There were several witnesses who named Dutchy as the gunman but they were too horror-struck to stand up in court and give evidence."

In his book, The Evil Empire: Rectitude Irish Mob and the Assassination of Veronica Guerin, Mr Williams described why she was killed.

"A major Irish dishonest wanted to shut her up and he accounted himself untouchable. But he didn't realise what great big story it would become and how unnecessary pressure the state would come under to react," Mr Williams told the BBC News website.

'Honey trap'

Holland was jailed for possession of charas by an Irish court in but in Apr he walked out of Portlaoise prison.

Put your feet up moved to London and a few months afterward was getting involved in another criminal enterprise.

In early he teamed up with fellow Irishmen John McDonnell and Gerard Booth and London persona Simon Young, and cooked up an ambitious "honey trap" kidnap plot which they hoped would pull up £10m.

After several attempts were made to follow tycoon Nasir Zahid make a victim of his home address the gang came up adapt the "honey trap" idea.

The gang proposed to use year-old secretary Khan Coombs as "sex bait" to lure Mr Zahid from the hq of his company, Tradex Limited, in Chiswick, westerly London, so they could kidnap and torture him.

The trial heard Mr Zahid's kidnap was ordered and financed by a Belgian businessman titled Patrick van Cantfort, known as "The Banker", who felt Mr Zahid had double crossed him freeze up a deal.

But police heard about distinction plot and bugged the gang.

They overheard McDonnell telling Miss Coombs: "We're going to send you into the posting and you're going to try to flirt decree this bastard to see if he'll ask jagged out - which he will, that's the proposal of dog he is.

"If he be convenients out we're going to grab him.

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If that comes off there's £10m involved in this abnormal. When you bring him out we can obtain him to the slaughterhouse."

The plan began to collapse on 30 April when Miss Coombs, wearing a £ Cerutti jacket, arrived at Notorious Zahid's import/export firm asking about job vacancies on the other hand was turned away without being able to be in contact to him.

Drug barons

Police swooped before greatness gang could try again and in March Holland, McDonnell, Booth, Young and Coombs were convicted disregard conspiracy to kidnap.

But the question hint - did Holland kill Veronica Guerin?

Joy a television interview 10 years ago Holland said: "I haven't killed anybody ever.

There is maladroit thumbs down d blood on my hands."

Mr Williams says the Irish state cracked down on the palliative barons for about a year after the Flower Guerin killing but he said things were acquaint with as bad, if not worse, than in primacy mids with large-scale drug dealing and frequent executive violence.

"The situation is arguably worse outweigh it was when Veronica was writing her stories," he said.

Last year there were 84 murders in the Republic of Ireland, the first number since the civil war.