'Guerin killer' Dutchy Holland dies in prison
Patrick 'Dutchy' Holland, pictured leaving court in 2006, was found dead yesterday by prison guards at Parkhurst jail on the Isle of Wight where he was serving an eight-year sentence.
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Saturday June 20 2009
VETERAN gunman Patrick Eugene Holland, who was named by gardai as the killer of journalist Veronica Guerin, died in an English prison cell yesterday.
Holland (70) was found dead by prison officers around 6am in Parkhurst jail on the Isle of Wight where he was serving an eight-year sentence for his role in a £10m plot to kidnap an English businessman.
Last night, Ms Guerin's mother Bernie said simply: "May the Lord have mercy on his soul."
The UK Prison Service said he appeared to have died from natural causes, but added that an investigation would be held because he had been in custody.
During the early part of his criminal career he was known to gardai, particularly members of the Special Branch, as Gene.
But after he was linked to the gang responsible for the murder of 'Sunday Independent' journalist, Veronica Guerin, in June 1996, he was given the nickname, "Dutchy", which stayed with him.
Holland's name was placed on a list of key suspects for the murder as an investigation into the shooting of the journalist in her car at the Naas Road was set up by assistant garda commissioner Tony Hickey.
Intelligence gathered by the team of detectives indicated that Holland had been the pillion passenger on a motorcycle that was used in the murder.
Gardai were satisfied after a lengthy investigation that Holland fired the fatal shot as he and another gang member, Brian Meehan, pulled alongside Ms Guerin's car.
But they were unable to secure the evidence to ensure that he would be convicted on a murder charge. However, during his trial in the Special Criminal Court, Garda Marion Cusack named him as the man believed to have been the killer.
The dramatic evidence came during the second day of his trial for possession of cannabis for sale or supply between October 1, 1995, and October 6, 1996.
Gda Cusack had arrested Holland at Dun Laoghaire ferry port after he had returned from Britain where he had been hiding out following the murder.
He was convicted on the drugs charges and initially sentenced to 20 years behind bars. But the jail term was later reduced on appeal to 12 years, and with standard remission of a quarter of his sentence, he was released from Portlaoise jail after serving nine years.
Within a year of his release he was one of five people arrested by police in London following an undercover operation.
Holland, who had an address in Lewisham in south east London, was charged with involvement in a "honey trap" kidnap plot and sentenced to eight years in jail in May last year.
Tony Hickey and members of his investigation team declined to comment. But one senior officer said : "We put whatever evidence we had before the courts and the judges reached their verdicts. He is dead now and God rest him."
- Tom Brady Security Editor
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