An appeal against extradition to Ireland by Mr John Gilligan will be heard in the House of Lords early next year. Mr Gilligan, who is also facing drug trafficking charges in Britain and has spent nearly two years in the high security Belmarsh Prison in London, was further remanded in custody until November 16th during a hearing at Woolwich Crown Court yesterday.
The drug trafficking trial has been technically adjourned until the appeal against the Irish extradition warrants is heard. The 18 extradition warrants, which were served on Mr Gilligan last year, include charges relating to drug trafficking, possession of weapons and the murder of the journalist, Veronica Guerin.
The legal challenge to extradition is expected to take place next February and arguing that Mr Gilligan had a good chance of success in the Lords, his counsel, Mr James Lewis, told Woolwich Crown Court that his client was being denied justice because the British drugs charges were being held over in the event that the Lords appeal was accepted.
Challenging an application to extend the custody time limits, Mr Lewis said: "Enough is enough. This matter cannot go on and the prosecution has to make up its mind what to do - they cannot have their cake and eat it."
Mr Shane Colleary, for the prosecution, said a divisional court review had upheld the opinion of the trial judge that the British trial could be subordinated to the Irish proceedings. In his view, nothing had changed and the subordination of the British trial to the Irish case was fully justified. Agreeing to extend the custody time limits, Judge James Rucker said the British case was only a small part of the larger Irish case, otherwise he would have had no sympathy with the applications before him.
Mr Gilligan was arrested at Heathrow Airport in October 1996 en route to Amsterdam. British customs officers discovered £300,000 in a number of currencies in his suitcase. He was sent for trial at Woolwich Crown Court last year but the trial was adjourned when the Irish extradition warrants were served.