Veronica Guerin
Veronica Guerin | |
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The Sunday Business Post | |
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Graham Turley (m. 1985) |
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Veronica Guerin Turley (5 July 1959 – 26 June 1996) was an Irish
Early and personal life
The daughter of Christopher and Bernadette,
Guerin studied accountancy at
PR career: 1983–1990
After she graduated, her father employed her at his company, but, following his death three years later, she changed professions and started a public relations firm in 1983, which she ran for seven years.
In 1983–84, she served as secretary to the
Journalism career: 1990–1996
In 1990, she changed careers again, switching to journalism as a reporter with the
From 1994 onwards, she began to write about criminals for the
When she began to cover drug dealers and gained information from convicted drugs criminal
On 13 September 1995, convicted criminal
Guerin received the International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists in December 1995.[8]
Murder
On the evening of 25 June 1996, Gilligan
About an hour after Guerin was murdered, a meeting took place in Moore Street, Dublin, between Bowden, Meehan, and Mitchell. Bowden later denied under oath in court that the purpose of the meeting was the disposal of the weapon, but that it was an excuse to appear in a public setting to place them away from the incident.[11]
At the time of her murder, Traynor was seeking a High Court order against Guerin to prevent her from publishing a book about his involvement in organised crime.[13] Guerin was killed two days before she was due to speak at a Freedom Forum conference in London. The topic of her segment was "Dying to Tell the Story: Journalists at Risk".[14]
Her funeral service, on 29 June 1996 at a church in
Aftermath
This article needs to be updated.(December 2022) |
Guerin's murder caused outrage, and Taoiseach John Bruton called it "an attack on democracy".[12] The Oireachtas, the Irish parliament, realised the potential of using tax enforcement laws as a means of deterring and punishing criminals. Within a week of her murder, it enacted the Proceeds of Crime Act 1996 and the Criminal Assets Bureau Act 1996, so that assets purchased with money obtained through crime could be seized by the government. This led to the formation of the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB).[citation needed]
After the murder of Guerin, Bowden was arrested as were the other members of Gilligan's gang who were still in Ireland. In an agreement with the Attorney General of Ireland, Bowden agreed to turn state's witness, and become the first person to enter the Republic's Witness Security Programme. Granted immunity from prosecution for the murder of Guerin, he was the only witness to give evidence against all four drug gang members at their trials in the Special Criminal Court: Patrick Holland, Paul "Hippo" Ward, Brian Meehan and John Gilligan.[16] The investigation into Guerin's death resulted in over 150 other arrests and convictions, as well as seizures of drugs and arms.[1] Drug crime in Ireland dropped 15 percent in the following 12 months.[citation needed] Four months after Guerin's murder, in October 1996, there was a sharp decline in the sex ratio at birth in Ireland, an indicator of societal stress levels, which fell to 0.5 from an anticipated value of more than 0.51.[17]
In 1997, while acting as a Garda witness, Bowden named Patrick "Dutchy" Holland in court as the man he supplied the gun to, and hence suspected of shooting Guerin. Holland was never convicted of the murder, and he denied the accusation until his death in June 2009 while in prison in the UK.[1][18]
In November 1998, after evidence from Bowden and others, Paul "Hippo" Ward was convicted of the murder and sentenced to
Brian Meehan fled to Amsterdam with Traynor (who later escaped to Portugal). After the court dismissed additional evidence from Bowden, Meehan was convicted on the testimony of gang member turned state's witness Russell Warren, who had followed Guerin's movements in the hours before the murder, and then called Meehan on a mobile phone with the details.[19] Meehan was convicted of murdering Guerin, and sentenced to life imprisonment.[20] He is the only individual serving a life sentence for his role in the murder.[21]
John Gilligan left Ireland the day before Guerin was murdered, on a flight to Amsterdam. He was arrested 12 months later in the United Kingdom trying to board a flight for Amsterdam after a routine search of his baggage revealed $500,000 in cash. Claiming it was the proceeds of gambling, he was charged with money laundering. After a three-year legal battle, he was extradited to Ireland on 3 February 2000. Tried and acquitted of Guerin's murder,[9] he was later convicted of importing 20 tonnes of cannabis and sentenced to 28 years in prison, reduced to 20 years on appeal.[citation needed]
Pursued by CAB, in January 2008, Gilligan made a court appearance in an attempt to stop the Irish State from selling off his assets. He accused Traynor of having ordered Guerin's murder without his permission. Despite the presiding judge's attempt to silence Gilligan, he continued to blame a botched Gardaí investigation and planted evidence as the reason for his current imprisonment. Traynor had fled to Portugal after Guerin's murder, and having been on the run from British authorities since 1992, resided mainly in Spain and the Netherlands from 1996 onwards. After a failed extradition from the Netherlands in 1997, which brought Meehan back to Ireland, in 2010 Traynor was arrested after a joint
Traynor, as of 2013, was living in Kent, England after serving time in an English prison. Traynor died in 2021 of cancer.[22]Turley remarried in 2011.[23] Guerin and Turley's son, Cathal Turley, relocated to Dubai and, as of 2021, manages an Irish pub at the Dubai World Trade Centre.[24]
Memorials and legacy
A memorial statue to Guerin is located in Dubh Linn Gardens, in the grounds of Dublin Castle.
On 2 May 1997, at a ceremony in
In 2000, Guerin was named as one of the
In 2007, the Veronica Guerin Memorial Scholarship was set up at Dublin City University, offering a bursary intended to meet the cost of fees and part of the general expenses of an MA in Journalism student who wishes to specialise in investigative journalism.[26]
Two films have been based on her story: When the Sky Falls (2000), starring Joan Allen as Sinead Hamilton and Veronica Guerin (2003), starring Cate Blanchett.[10] A biography titled Veronica Guerin: The Life and Death of a Crime Reporter by Emily O'Reilly, published in 1998, questions the ethics of Guerin's methods of gathering information, and those of the underlying media establishment.[27] Guerin's murder was a main inspiration and plot point of progressive metal band Savatage's 1997 concept album The Wake of Magellan. [28]
See also
Notes
- ^ a b c Henry McDonald (9 April 2006). "10 years later, still no peace for Veronica Guerin". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
- ^ a b c Jason Lynch (3 November 2003). "Killed for Her Courage". People. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
- ^ "Match: Republic of Ireland 0–5 England, 2 May 1981, Dalymount Park". Women's Football Archive. 4 May 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
- ^ "Veronica Guerin". The Telegraph. London. 28 June 1996. Archived from the original on 3 July 2010.
- ^ Wild Irish Women: Extraordinary Lives from History, Marian Broderick, University of Wisconsin Press, 2002, page 131
- ^ "The second fall of Veronica Guerin". BBC News. 6 May 1998. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f Alan Murdoch (27 June 1996). "Obituary: Veronica Guerin". The Independent. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
- ^ a b c d "Veronica Guerin". Gale Encyclopedia of Biography at Answers.com. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
- ^ a b c d "Veronica Guerin". undergroundnotes.com. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
- ^ a b Liz Allen. "The second fall of Veronica Guerin". BBC News. 6 May 1998. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
- ^ a b c "Ward Appeal". The Irish Times. 22 March 2002. Archived from the original on 28 November 2010. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
- ^ a b c "Veronica Guerin". International Press Institute. Archived from the original on 18 March 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
- ^ a b Washbrook, Cyril (4 September 2010). "UK: Suspect in Veronica Guerin murder arrested". The Spy Report. Media Spy. Archived from the original on 10 September 2010. Retrieved 4 September 2010.
- ^ "N. Ireland investigative journalist slain; Protestant group claims responsibility". Associated Press. 10 January 2001. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
- ^ Murdoch, Alan (23 October 2011). "Tears and applause at journalist's funeral". The Independent. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
- ^ "Bowden relocated abroad under witness protection programme". RTÉ News. 18 April 2001. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
- S2CID 210149890.
- ^ "Obituary of Patrick 'Dutchy' Holland" Archived 15 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine. The Irish Times. 6 June 2009. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
- ^ "Life sentence for Guerin murderer". BBC News. 29 July 1999. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
- ^ "Extradition of Irishman". The New York Times. 10 December 1997. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
- ^ "'Fatso' Mitchell's ten-year-sentence is the final nail in the coffin of the Gilligan Gang". SundayWorld.com. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
- ^ "John Traynor denied setting up Veronica Guerin murder saying 'John Gilligan f**ked everything up'". SundayWorld.com. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
- ^ "Graham and Suzanne celebrate their big day", The Irish Independent, 31 July 2011
- ^ "McGettigan's Strong Irish Heritage Recognised With 'The Bl..." www.dubairestaurantsguide.com. 15 July 2021. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
- ^ "World Press Freedom Heroes: Symbols of courage in global journalism". International Press Institute. 2012. Archived from the original on 16 January 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
- ^ "Veronica Guerin Memorial Scholarship". Dublin City University. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
- ^ Justine McCarthy. "Veronica: the smearing of an icon." The Independent. 25 April 1998. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
- ^ "The Wake of Magellan (Music)". TV Tropes. Retrieved 23 January 2024.