Powerful stuff from Paul Williams on the Late Late Show.
The Irish Independent crime correspondent spoke of recently encountering notorious criminal John Gilligan on the grounds of Jessbrook, the equestrian centre in Kildare that was supposed to have been taken from Gilligan by the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB).
Gilligan, who is the chief suspect in the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin in 1996, but was never convicted, was encountered by Williams on the property that was seized by the CAB and subsequently sold in 2014.
Recalling the encounter in conversation with Ryan Tubridy, Williams said: “I just lost it.
“Veronica Guerin was murdered over this place,” Williams added.
Clip via The Late Late Show
“20 years later, the Criminal Assets Bureau was set up to take that place away from him. And now, he is sitting there as if he owns the place. He is effectively a tenant of the Criminal Assets Bureau that was set up to destroy him and his like.
“He has played ducks and drakes with the whole criminal justice system and the civil court system. It makes an ass of our laws, our criminal justice system, everything.
“It also represents the ultimate grotesque insult to the memory of Veronica Guerin.”
You can see more of the conversation in the clip above.
Footage of Williams’ encounter with Gilligan will feature in a documentary, Paul Williams: State of Fear, on TV3 on Monday and Tuesday.
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