The killer of journalist Veronica Guerin is understood to be on a cushy jail regime and has access to his own kitchen and sofa.
Brian Meehan, 50, who is serving a life sentence for his role in the journalist’s 1996 murder in Dublin, was transferred from Portlaoise Prison to Wheatfield jail over a month ago and is now on the 5F landing.
Dublin Live has learned he is on a “super-enhanced regime” which allows him access to other luxury essentials that other inmates are not entitled to.
The move is to prepare him for reintegrating back into society if he is ever released from prison.
A source said he now has access to a settee on the landing where he can relax as well as a kitchen that he shares with other prisoners.
They added: “The wing he is on in Wheatfield has a super-enhanced regime.
“There’s a sofa, for example, that inmates can relax on and they have access to a kitchen where they can cook for themselves.
“It’s normally for inmates who are getting ready to be released after a long sentence, to get them used to living outside of the prison regime.
“Meehan is not set for release so it’s more than likely just part of a programme for if the day ever comes.”
The source said the regime in Wheatfield is hugely different to the one in his last prison. They added: “It’s a far cry from Portlaoise that’s for sure. There must be some plans in the pipeline to release him in the future if he has been moved.”
The transfer comes just three years after Meehan had all his privileges removed when he was caught with drugs behind bars.
He was allegedly found with vials of methadone and pills during a search at Portlaoise.
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.
Meehan, from Crumlin in Dublin, was convicted in 1999 after a 31-day trial before the non-jury Special Criminal Court of Ms Guerin’s murder and other offences involving firearms and drugs.
The prosecution claimed he was the driver of a motorcycle which pulled up alongside the crime reporter’s car on June 26, 1996.
The mum of one died after the pillion passenger shot her.
