The Special Criminal Court was told today murder accused Mr John Gilligan admitted to the Sunday Independent'sformer crime correspondent he threatened to kidnap Veronica Guerin's son and "ride him".
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Mr John Gilligan
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Ms Liz Allen said her notes of the conversation were thrown out by the
Sunday Independent
when she left the newspaper.
"They were thrown out. It certainly wasn't of my doing," she told the court.
She said she believed management in the Sunday Independenttold gardai that the notes were no longer available.
Ms Allen also said Mr Gilligan had sent her a note from prison telling her he loved her.
Ms Allen told prosecution counsel Mr Peter Charleton SC she met Mr Gilligan in Amsterdam in the aftermath of Veronica Guerin's death, while she was crime correspondent for the Sunday Tribune.
She told the court Mr Gilligan phoned her as she was about to board the plane to Amsterdam and was able to tell her what she was wearing and the colour and length of her hair.
He met her in Amsterdam airport and gave her a bouquet of flowers. He was very pleasant to her and took her and a photographer to his hotel room.
Ms Allen said Mr Gilligan admitted to her he had threatened to kidnap Ms Guerin's son, and "ride him".
Ms Allen said Mr Gilligan wanted to make it clear to her he was not "queer" and was angry with Ms Guerin because she was pestering him for an interview.
Under cross-examination by defence counsel Mr Terence Mc Donald SC, Ms Allen agreed she had described herself as "a friend" of John Gilligan when she visited him in a British prison.
She said the guard at the prison may have had the impression she was Mr Gilligan's girlfriend but that was not her intention.
She showed the court a note which she said was posted to her at the Sunday Independent. She agreed with Mr McDonald it was a printed document but she said there was a handwritten note on the corner which said "Love ya, John".
She said she believed this had been sent by Mr Gilligan from Belmarsh prison in England, but she could not recall when she received the note.
She added she had mislaid the note and only found it on Thursday night in a bureau in her house.
Asked about her conversation with Mr Gilligan in Amsterdam soon after the death of Veronica Guerin, she told the court she had a half glass of wine in Mr Gilligan's hotel room because she wanted him to feel at ease.
"I didn't drink just coffee because I didn't want him to think that I was trying to stay alert," she said.
She said she read her notes of the interview back to Mr Gilligan because he was concerned about what points she would emphasise in a subsequent newspaper article.
Ms Allen said that she published all "on the record" statements made by Mr Gilligan in the Sunday Tribunethat week.
He rang her after the article was published and thanked her for "giving him a hearing".
She agreed Mr Gilligan denied involvement in the murder of Ms Guerin in the conversations she had with him.