The brother of murdered journalist Veronica Guerin has said he intends to write to the Taoiseach over her killer’s impending move to an open prison.
Yesterday The Star revealed how murderer Brian Meehan, 55 is set to be moved to Shelton Abbey open prison within days.
The significant move will mean Meehan, who has been imprisoned for the last 21 years, will be entitled to day releases and eventually his full-release from prison.
And speaking to The Star today, Veronica’s brother Jimmy says that he now intends to write directly to the Taoiseach and to the Minister for Justice to urge them to keep Meehan away from early release.
“It’s extremely concerning coming up to the 25th anniversary that the only person to be convicted of her murder is being released into an open prison for eventual release onto the street.
“On the foot of your story, I do intend to write to the Minister and the Taoiseach and hope that they will exercise their powers,” he said.
Mr Guerin says the current Taoiseach Michael Martin was a close personal friend of his slain sister - and he hopes that he will “see sense” and keep him behind bars.
“The current Taoiseach was a personal friend of Veronica’s and knew her for many, many years. They were quite close, you know through Fianna Fail and other things.
“So I would hope that he would see sense with it.
“I remember at the time Michael Martin at the removal and how upset he was, so I would just hope that he would reflect on that and ensure that the right action is taken,” he added.
Jimmy believes a fair sentence for Meehan would be the equivalent of the one given to infamous killer Malcom McArthur - who was released from prison in 2012 - after 30 years behind bars.
“I can’t tell you what I’d think he’d be entitled to. But I think it’s wrong.
“I would have thought a comparable sentence or a fair one would be the one Malcom McArthur was made to serve.
“I think the penalty should be similar,” he said.
Jimmy says the news of Meehan’s move to an open prison is extremely annoying for him.
“ It’s more annoying than anything else. It's extremely annoying and irritating and you'd wonder what value was put on the sacrifices that were made. None really,” he said.
We have also learned that the killer, who has served 21 years behind bars for the murder of the Sunday Independent journalist, has been assigned his own personal probation officer - and will be given his own dorm at the open prison.
Sources say the authorities in the Irish Prison Service have been preparing for Meehan’s move for several months - and it is expected that he will now be moved there within days.
The decision also would have been run by Minister for Justice Helen McEntee, who will also have the ultimate say on Meehan’s eventual release.
“Many prisoners at Shelton Abbey are sharing a dorm, but space will be made available to give Meehan his own accommodation,” a source told this paper.
It is also understood that Meehan, who is currently in Dublin’s Wheatfield Prison, is serving his time on a special landing for ‘lifers,’ where he enjoys more freedoms than other lags.
Meehan is allowed to come and go as he pleases to the prison’s kitchen, where he can cook his own food.
Sources say he also has been availing of the services of a personal addiction counsellor - in further efforts to prove he can live on the outside.
Meehan’s move to Shelton Abbey will mean he will be entitled to temporary leave, days out, more courses, and eventually be entitled to full release.
Sources say with such a move the killer could be fully released from custody within the next two or three years.
Meehan was jailed for life over the shocking murder of Ms Guerin and has now served 21 years behind bars.
The three judges at the Special Criminal Court who convicted the drug dealer in 1999 did not recommend how many years he should serve.
He was given life for the murder and a further five to 25 years for drugs and firearms charges, to run concurrently.
Meehan spent most of his time in the maximum security Portlaoise Prison before being moved to Wheatfield in 2019.
Tragic Veronica was shot dead on June 26, 1996, as she sat in traffic lights on the Naas dual carriageway in Dublin.
A two-man hit team on a motorbike opened fire.
Meehan was driving and the late Patrick “Dutchy” Holland was the shooter who fired six shots at the journalist.
Holland was never charged with her murder due to lack of evidence but gardai named him in a subsequent drugs court case as the trigger man.
The career criminal denied it up until his death in an English prison at 70 years of age in 2009. Meehan was convicted on the evidence of Russell Warren, a member of John Gilligan’s drugs gang who turned State evidence.
In 2017, Meehan lost a final appeal to overturn his conviction.
He sought a challenge against the Court of Appeal’s April 2016 judgment refusing to certify his conviction was a miscarriage of justice.
Meehan tried to argue “new or newly discovered facts” emerged during the trial of John Gilligan, who was cleared of Ms Guerin’s murder in 2001.
But judges described his bid as an “abuse of process” and dismissed the application.
He then asked the Supreme Court to hear a challenge on that decision but it was ruled he had not shown the proposed appeal was necessary.
