CRIME lord John Gilligan is back living at the house he once called home at Jessbrook Equestrian Centre in the latest twist in the history of Ireland’s most controversial equestrian centre.

Living in the house owned by his wife Geraldine, John Gilligan’s move back to the Co Kildare area hit the national headlines and airwaves over the last week amid even some public calls for the Criminal Assets Bureau to be disbanded.

Gilligan’s fight to retain Jessbrook and other assets is estimated to have cost the Irish State some €20m over the last two decades in legal battles.

Since his release from prison after serving one of the longest sentences ever handed down for drug offences in the Irish courts, there have been two attempts on his life.

Gilligan fled abroad after the second near fatal attempt but has recently returned to live at Jessbrook where photographs of him cutting down tree branches were circulated widely in national media.

The images provoked widespread outrage that the man who once assaulted murdered journalist Veronica Guerin when she called to Gilligan’s Jessbrook home to question him about the source of his apparent wealth when he had no visible means of financial support, is now back living at the same place.

EMERALD DAYS

The equestrian centre is currently owned by Newbridge native James Buckley, who spent a small fortune upgrading the centre after buying the property and its lands from CAB for approximately €500,000.

Rebranded Emerald International under Mr Buckley’s ownership, the centre held just one show - the Emerald Masters - before it was announced that the centre would be offered for sale again.

At the time, that sudden change of business plans for the centre were attributed by Mr Buckley and his team to a health problem that would prevent him for giving his full attention to the business.

Efforts to contact James Buckley for a comment were unsuccessful at time of going to press.