Patrick Holland (criminal): Difference between revisions
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Patrick "Dutchy" Holland was a career Irish criminal, best known for being the first person tried and convicted of killing Irish investigative journalist Veronica Guerin, which he denied until his death and was later over turned on appeal.
Holland was born in Dublin. After an early career in petty crime, in 1981 he was jailed for seven years for armed robbery at a hotel in Ballsbridge. Released, in 1989 he was sentenced to ten years for possessing explosives, detonators and fuse wire.[1]
On release, he joined the drugs gang of John Gilligan, working alongside Charles Bowden. It was Bowden who supplied the gun which killed Guerin, a meeting attended by Holland.[1]
In 1997 in the wake of Guerin's killing, a period in which the Garda and the Criminal Assets Bureau made over 150 arrests to clear up Ireland's illegal drug problem, Holland was arrested for possession and distribution of 10 kilograms (22 lb) of cannabis. During the trial in Dublin, a Gardi officer said that she believed Holland was the gunman who killed Guerin in her car in 1996. Sentenced to 20 years, it was reduced to 12 years on appeal.[1] Released from Portlaoise Prison in April 2006, he flew to Italy where his lawyer had arraged a series of psychological tests and press interviews, in which Holland strongly denied the murder of Guerin.[1]
In 2007, he made his way to England. Involved with a honey trap kidnap plot, he was arrested by British police. After a month-long trial the jury unanimously convicted Holland together with John McDonnell, Gerard Booth and Khan Coombs of conspiracy to kidnap.[1]
References
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Sentenced to seven years, he died in jail.
During the trial in Dublin, a police officer had said that she believed he was the gunman who killed Mrs Guerin, a reporter for the Sunday Independent, in her car in 1996. She had waged a high-profile campaign against Ireland’s drug barons.
. At his subsequent trial , for which he served nine years.
He was released from Portlaoise maximum security prison in April, 2006. Interviewed shortly afterwards, Holland denied any involvement in the shooting of Ms Guerin.