Media coverage: 'Youse done your job'

The above is what Patrick "Dutchy" Holland said to reporters after he was conviced of cannabis trafficking in 1997, meaning that media coverage had helped convict him. John Byrne looks at some of the press that surrounded his release from prison on 8 April

'You're going to get yours, Dutchy'

The Sunday Times columnist Brenda Power gave a telling insight into the workings of Irish crime journalism on Sunday March 26. She was in court the day Dutchy Holland as convicted for trafficking cannabis in 1997.

"As [Dutchy Holland] stood for what seemed an eternity to await his sentence, a well-known crime reporter sitting next to me barracked him with abusive comments," she wrote.

"Even though his remarks could be heard clearly ('You're going to get yours, Dutchy, you're going down for a long time; you'll never shoot anybody else'), neither the judges nor the gardaí seemed to notice...

"When the sentence of 20 years was passed, Holland looked shocked. My vocal colleague went into overdrive and his taunting grew louder. As Holland was being led away he looked down at the media benches and made a remark that another reporter and I heard clearly.

"The ranter on my other side didn't quite catch what Holland said, which didn't stop him repeating what he thought he heard. 'Did you hear what he said?' he asked everybody excitedly. 'He said it was just another job!'

"Those words have since become part of journalistic and crimeland legend. Whenever they are repeated they are used as evidence of Holland's callousness...

"But that's not what Holland said. 'Youse done your job,' are the actual words he used."

The Irish News of the World

Although Suzanne Breen did an interview for the Sunday Tribune with Dutchy Holland last summer, in which he made the same allegations that he has made over the last week, the Irish News of the World billed their interview with Dutchy Holland as "The interview they all wanted".

"Dutchy names 'Guerin killer'" was the front page headline. "The drug dealer said to have gunned down crime reporter Veronica Guerin walked free from jail yesterday. And he immediately pointed the finger at supergrass Charlie Bowden as the REAL killer. But Patrick 'Dutchy' Holland, 66, vowed: 'I won't testify in court.'"

Inside, Dutchy Holland said, "I'm not the man who shot [Veronica Guerin]. I don't care if he believes me, but I want to meet Graham Turley [Veronica Guerin's husband] and tell him I didn't do it. I had never spoken to Veronica Guerin and she never, ever tried to make contact with me."

He outlined his reasons for thinking that it was Charlie Bowden who shot Veronica Guerin – allegedly a member of John Gilligan's gang, and the 'supergrass' whose testimony helped convict Dutchy Holland for drug trafficking.

"Witnesses say Veronica was killed by a big man, which is why it was linked to me. But Bowden's a big man too. If you check who was in Gilligan's gang, he was the biggest man physically. And Bowden can't account for his movements on that day. He doesn't have an alibi."

He described his relationship with John Gilligan. "Gilligan lived in Ballyfermot and I lived in Chapelizod but I only met him when I go into prison and we used to play cards.

"They used to call him Factory John and that was all I'd heard about him, I'd no dealings with him.

"I wasn't a close close acquaintance. The only business I ever had with him was when I printed the showjumping books for him one time. We were not involved in organised crime together.

"When I heard Veronica Guerin was shot, the name John Gilligan never went through my mind. I don't believe he had anything to do with it – he had no reason to."

The Sunday World

That same Sunday, the Sunday World ran a "world exclusive" by crime editor Paul Williams. "Guilty – We reveal the evidence that proves Dutchy Holland murdered Veronica". The paper detailed allegations which have been known for years, allegedly made by John Gilligan's ex-teenage lover, Carol Rooney. During an interview with gardaí after the murder of Veronica Guerin, Carol Rooney – described by Paul Williams in the article as 'impressionable' – allegedly described how she heard John Gilligan plotting with Dutchy Holland to kill the Sunday Independent journalist.

In a separate article, Paul Williams wrote that although Dutchy Holland is "courteous and friendly and never, ever swears" he was in fact a "gangland hitman and enforcer".

Using anonymous sources, Williams painted a picture of Dutchy Holland as an intimidating man. "Sources in Portlaoise prison have confirmed that "one of the only people who could put Gilligan in his place" was Holland.

"Holland was a great actor," said another nameless source. "He could convince you that he was the most innocent man you ever met. In prison, he was a model prisoner and the only one who could tell Gilligan where to get off."

The Irish Daily Mail and Ireland on Sunday

After hearing that Dutchy Holland was to be interviewed by Pat Kenny on The Late, Late Show, The Irish Daily Mail berated RTÉ for offering Dutchy Holland the chance to tell his side of the story. When RTÉ bosses pulled the interview, saying that it would not be in the public interest to have him on the show, the Irish Daily Mail took the credit.

"Last month this newspaper initiated a chorus of complaint after it was revealed that convicted criminal Patrick 'Dutchy' Holland was to appear on The Late Late Show this coming Friday immediately after his release from prison...

"This was nothing more more than a cheap grab for ratings, a tawdry effort to win back the huge audiences of the past, an attempt to turn a criminal into a celebrity.

"No matter how tough Kenny would be in his interview with Holland, all of the above would have remained true. It would have been a low point for Irish television... Shame on Pat Kenny."

Jimmy Guerin, the brother of Veronica Guerin, wrote a piece in Ireland on Sunday, which is owned by the Daily Mail group. The headline read: "Sky's cynical and amoral bid to save failing TV channel."

He wrote: "It is a new low in journalism when one of the biggest news organisations in the world shows no respect for the feelings of the victims, but instead, in an attempt to boost the figures of a faltering TV service, allows a member of a gang who murdered a journalist the opportunity to insult her family."