20/03/2013

Brian Rattigan To Be Sentenced For Prison Drug Dealing

Convicted criminal gang leader Brian Rattigan is due to be sentenced in the Special Criminal Court on charges of dealing drugs from his prison cell.

The 32-year-old, from Cooley Road, Walkinstown in Dublin, is currently serving life in prison for committing murder. He was caught running a drugs supply network by mobile phone from his cell in Portlaoise prison.

On 21 May 2008, gardaí found 5kg of heroin in a shed at the back of a house on Hughes Road South in Walkinstown, along with a weighing scales, €36,000 in cash and a mobile phone.

On the phone were messages relating to the division of the heroin from a phone Rattigan had in prison.

Prison guards raided his cell unannounced at 21:30 the following day while he was lying on his bed with a phone in his hand.

Despite throwing the phone out the door, it was recovered along with notebooks, three SIM cards and another phone.

Rattigan's defence counsel told court that the offence happened five years ago and Rattigan had come to a growing realisation that he had to change his life.

(H)


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