Supreme Court refuses legal aid for Gilligan
Former crime boss John Gilligan has received another blow in his fight to claw back Jessbrook Equestrian Centre and various properties seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau in the 1990s.
The Supreme Court has refused legal aid to the convicted drug dealer and his family for a forensic accountant's report which they had hoped would show their properties were bought with gambling winnings.
John Gilligan is now living in the UK after he was shot at his brother's home in Clondalkin last March just months after his release from prison.
The 62-year-old drug dealer has been engaged in protracted legal battles with CAB since it seized all his properties in 1996 including the equestrian centre Jessbrook which was sold last year.
Before the appeal is heard in the Supreme Court, the family wanted legal aid for a forensic accountant's report that they hope will show their assets were the proceeds of gambling winnings and not crime.
But the court has ruled it would be "wholly inappropriate" to introduce new evidence on appeal that could easily have been placed before the High Court at the original hearings.
It has pointed out that the High Court is not to be treated as some sort of "dry run" ahead of the appeal.
