PATRICK "DUTCHY" Holland has been sentenced to eight years in jail by a court in London for his role in a plot to kidnap a businessman and hold him to ransom for £10 million.
He had been named in the Special Criminal Court in 1997 as the man whom gardaí believed shot Veronica Guerin but he has never been convicted of her murder.
Holland (68) was jailed yesterday with four accomplices from Britain and Northern Ireland after their convictions in March.
London's Blackfriars Crown Court heard the gang planned to use a woman to lure the targeted businessman, Nasir Zahid, to the spot where he was to be abducted and held for ransom.
The court was told the kidnap plot was ordered by a European businessman, Patrick Van Court, because he believed Mr Zahid had double-crossed him over a £10 million VAT fraud.
The woman who was to be used as "sex bait", Khan Coombs (24), planned to apply for a secretarial job with Mr Zahid in London. Once working with him, she planned to seduce him and bring him to a location in London where her male accomplices would be waiting to kidnap him.
However, the plan ran into difficulties when Coombs was told Mr Zahid's company had no vacancies. The gang members were under police surveillance and before they had time to formulate an alternative kidnap plan, they were arrested.
Holland, who gave an address at Lewisham, southeast London, was unanimously found guilty of conspiracy to kidnap Mr Zahid between March 10th and May 2nd last year.
The other gang members were convicted of the same offence and were imprisoned for various periods.
They are: Coombs, no fixed abode (four years); lorry driver John McDonnell (45), Lewisham, (eight years); and lorry driver Gerrard Booth (47), Rostrevor, Co Down (seven years).
Simon Young (38), Kent, was also convicted of possession of a firearm and sentenced to 11 years. Patrick Van Court, who is believed to have fled to continental Europe, is still being sought by British police.
Judge Henry Blacksell QC said all those in the dock were "thoroughly dishonest and villainous people". Turning to Holland, he continued: "I have no doubt at all about your important role in the commission of this offence. You are a man who has been associated with serious crime over a long period of time and have served long periods of imprisonment.
"You are reaching the end of your life and it may be that you end it in prison, I know not."
Holland lived much of his life in Dublin's north inner city and Finglas. He was targeted by the Criminal Assets Bureau who confiscated a house he owned in Brittas, Co Wicklow.
He first came to the public's attention when, after his arrest in 1997 on drugs charges, the Special Criminal Court heard he was suspected of shooting Veronica Guerin the previous year.
Garda Marion Cusack had told the court she arrested Holland after he arrived at the Dún Laoghaire ferry port on April 9th, 1997, on suspicion of having a firearm at the junction of the Naas Road and Boot Road on June 26th, 1996, when Ms Guerin was shot.
In cross-examination Garda Cusack had said: "I had formed the opinion that Patrick Holland was the man who shot dead Veronica Guerin on June 26th, 1996."
Holland was never convicted of the murder. However, he was convicted of drugs offences relating to the activities of the gang led by John Gilligan.
Holland was sentenced to 20years which was later reduced to 12 on appeal.
He was released from prison in April 2006. He has previous convictions in Ireland for armed robbery and for his role in attempting to supply explosives to the IRA in exchange for guns.
