Mr John Gilligan, who is facing trial on drug trafficking charges, has denied implicating himself in the murder of the journalist, Ms Veronica Guerin, and he has claimed that the idea was first proposed by the media in Ireland.
At a pre-trial review hearing at Woolwich Crown Court yesterday, Mr Gilligan interrupted the proceedings to instruct his counsel, Ms Claire Montgomery, that his self-confessed status as the prime suspect in the death of Ms Guerin "was certainly not something that has come from his own mouth. It appeared in the press", Ms Montgomery said.
Referring to Ms Guerin's murder, Ms Montgomery said she considered Mr Gilligan's "self-confessed suspect status" did not mean he was "guilty of that offence. The Irish police do not have reasonable grounds to suspect him of that offence or they would have issued a warrant for his arrest".
Mr Gilligan was arrested at Heathrow Airport on October 6th last year, when he attempted to board a flight to Amsterdam with £330,000 concealed in his suitcase.
He is facing charges of conspiracy to import cannabis resin on ships to the Republic of Ireland in contravention of the Criminal Justice Act 1990, Section 19 and with concealing the proceeds of drug trafficking under Section 49 of the Drug Trafficking Act 1994.
He is also charged with attempting to remove from Britain the proceeds of drug trafficking under the same Act and of another charge of assisting another person to retain the benefits of drug trafficking under Section 50 (1) of the Drug Trafficking Act 1994.
Arguing that the jury at Mr Gilligan's trial should be given police protection, Mr Nigel Peters, for the prosecution, insisted the charges against him "go beyond being found with money at Heathrow".
The prosecution would argue that Mr Gilligan had amassed a £20 million fortune through gambling and property deals and importing 17 tonnes of cannabis into Ireland over a three-year period.
He had also been involved, Mr Peters claimed, in laundering £5.3 million in Ireland and another £15.1 million in the Netherlands while an "unknown sum" had been laundered in Belgium.
Accepting that "in my experience drugs are so rife and so much crime is connected with them", Judge Rucker granted "full scale jury protection" for the trial.
As the review moved on to consider the evidence of Mr Charles Bowden, the prosecution's "principle witness", Ms Montgomery raised her objections to the presentation of his evidence in written form "because nothing is more redolent of risk than the jury not seeing a witness". Mr Bowden, who is being held in custody in Dublin, should be granted bail to appear in a British court, Ms Montgomery said.
Mr Gilligan, she argued, rejected the evidence of Mr Bowden. "Mr Gilligan sees that it has come about as a determined effort of the Irish police to implicate him in this crime and the death of Veronica Guerin. There are enough difficulties in this case without finding we have to prepare for cross-examination of a witness before trial who is in Ireland."
However, Judge Rucker overruled Ms Montgomery's objections and ordered the court to issue a letter of request to the Dublin District Court "as a matter of urgency" to allow Mr Bowden to give his evidence in written form in Dublin. Although Judge Rucker said Mr Bowden's evidence could be taken in this way he warned the court: "I may yet exclude it if I feel Mr Gilligan could not have a fair trial."
The prosecution was allowed until September 1st to disclose "all sensitive material" relating to the case when the court will return to consider the timetable of the trial.