A sentence of 28 years' imprisonment was imposed by the Special Criminal Court yesterday on John Gilligan for the importation of millions of pounds worth of cannabis into the State.
Passing sentence, Mr Justice O'Donovan said the court believed Gilligan was the largest benefactor and "the supreme authority" of a gang importing the drugs, which conservatively weighed 19,000 kilos and grossed an estimated £38 million for him between July 1994 and October 1996.
He said the street value of the drugs would have been a multiple of this figure and the court had no doubt that Gilligan "reaped staggering profits from the enterprise" he was engaged in which were "in inverse proportion to the misery" his activities had brought to many families in the State.
He said the court was at a loss to find words for what he had done as a result of "insatiable greed". He added that never in the history of Irish jurisprudence had one person caused so much wretchedness to so many, "a haemorrhage of harm that was unlikely to heal in a generation".
Mr Justice O'Donovan told Gilligan that if he had a fortune hidden away, he hoped it was uncovered by the Garda, but even if it wasn't it was "unlikely you will have the capacity to enjoy it".
He said the court noted that Gilligan had shown no remorse for what he had done.
Gilligan (48), with addresses at Corduff Avenue, Blanchards town, Dublin; Jessbrook Equestrian Centre, Mucklon, Enfield, Co Kildare; and HM Prison Belmarsh, London, had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Mr Justice O'Donovan also noted the submission of Mr Michael O'Higgins SC, defending, that the defendant should be dealt with on a par with how his associates were dealt with. These included protected witness Charles Bowden who got six years, Patrick Holland who got 20 years - this was reduced on appeal to 12 years - and Brian Meehan who got 12 years, which is now under appeal.
He said the court believed Gilligan's "involvement in this enterprise was to a different degree and kind" than the others. He was the largest benefactor and therefore the court felt he should be "dealt with far more seriously" than the others.
He said the court was satisfied the accused "was the prime mover in the importation of cannabis resin into this country" through the medium of a shipping company from early 1994 until gardai raided a unit at the Greenmount Industrial Estate, Dublin, in October 1996 and found some of the drugs.
The court had been led to the "inexorable conclusion" that Gilligan did "either directly or vicariously, engage in the sale and supply of cannabis resin" at the time.
Mr O'Higgins had also submitted that when Gilligan came before the court in Britain in December 1999, before he was extradited, he had already been over three years in custody and the presiding judge, Judge James Rucker, said if he were to pass sentence then, no sentence he would hand down would be longer than the time Gilligan had already spent in custody.
Mr Justice O'Donovan said Judge Rucker would have had access to a book of evidence but he had heard no evidence whatsoever so "he could not have fully appreciated what was involved in this case". So his comments in relation to a term of imprisonment were totally irrelevant to what the court had to decide, he said.
However, he agreed with defence counsel that any sentences imposed should be backdated to 1996 when Gilligan was first taken into custody.
Earlier Mr O'Higgins conceded that the quantity of cannabis in question was "by any accounts enormous" and it would be foolish of him to contradict that. However, he claimed the court did not have cogent evidence of what profit Gilligan enjoyed from it.
He said he did not accept the evidence of Assistant Garda Commissioner Tony Hickey that Gilligan would have grossed some £38 million from the enterprise. The court, he said, did not know what the cost of setting up the operation was and while he conceded the profits would have been substantial, the evidence had been that Gilligan's associates earned between £400,000 and £850,000 and it had not been established Gilligan got more than them.
However, Mr Justice O'Donovan, finding Gilligan guilty of 11 drugs-related offences, said he accepted the defendant had grossed around £38 million.
He sentenced Gilligan to 28 years' imprisonment on some of the drugs charges and to 12 years' imprisonment on a number of other drug-related offences. The sentences are to run concurrently and were backdated to 1996. Leave to appeal was refused.