TWENTY prospective buyers are battling over crime boss John Gilligan’s former bungalow.

The house at the crook’s prized former Jessbrook equestrian centre on the Kildare/Meath border is up for sale for €120,000.

3 John Gilligan has fought hard to retain his properties

Notorious gangster Gilligan — whose associates murdered crime reporter Veronica Guerin in 1996 — has fought the State tooth and nail to retain his properties.

But he lost his Supreme Court appeal to keep his ill-gotten assets and the bungalow is now on the market.

The Irish Sun has learned there has been “significant” interest in the property.

A source told us: “There would be around 20 people who would be currently considered under the category of serious interest.”

The 2,615sq ft house, on 5.6 acres, is billed as a seven-bed detached bungalow, boasting extensive rural views.

It is described as convenient to Johnstown and Enfield with a tree-lined entrance.

3 The property boasts 'a private setting with extensive views of rural landscape'

3 The bungalow has seven bedrooms and four bathrooms

Estate agent REA McDonald’s advertisement for the home points to its former ownership, referring to the pad being “previously subject to seizure by the Criminal Assets Bureau under the Proceeds of Crime Act”.

Gilligan, 65, had claimed he didn’t get a proper trial when his assets were frozen by the State in 1996, and argued that subsequent court rulings were flawed or invalid.

He had also claimed three houses owned by him or his family were not bought with the proceeds from crime. But the Supreme Court unanimously dismissed the appeal earlier this year.

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The proceeds of the bungalow sale will go to the State.

The Criminal Assets Bureau had already succeeded in taking the drug lord’s beloved Jessbrook Equestrian Centre.

Similar possession orders were made for the adjoining bungalow at Jessbrook and two other houses in Dublin’s Lucan and Blanchardstown.