Brian Meehan has failed in his attempt to have his conviction for the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin declared a miscarriage of justice.
The 47-year-old, from Crumlin, was jailed for life in 1999 for his part in her assassination.
He tried to argue that “new or newly discovered facts” emerged during the 2001 trial of John Gilligan, who was subsequently acquitted of her murder.
Veronica Guerin was shot dead in her car on the Naas Road in June 1996.
Self-confessed accomplice Russell Warren, who’s now a protected witness, swore under oath that Brian Meehan was the driver of the motorbike carrying the pillion passenger who opened fire on Veronica Guerin.
He said he’d followed her from Naas District Court and was in constant phone contact with both Meehan and John Gilligan, who was later acquitted of her murder.
A woman backed up Mr. Warren’s story by placing him at the courthouse that day, but it emerged during Gilligan’s trial that she failed to pick him out of an ID parade shortly after the shooting.
His defence claimed this was a new fact that should result in his conviction being declared a miscarriage of justice. The State claims the evidence was made available to his legal team, but wasn’t appreciated by them at the time.
However the Court of Appeal has dismissed the appeal.
