The man convicted of murdering journalist Veronica Guerin in June 1996, has lost his bid to have his conviction declared a miscarriage of justice.

The Court of Appeal ruled the application by 47-year-old Brian Meehan from Crumlin in Dublin amounted to an abuse of process.

The presiding judge, Mr Justice George Birmingham, said no new fact or newly discovered fact had been established.

He said each and every fact advanced by Meehan's legal team was known at the time of his failed appeal to the Court of Criminal Appeal in 2003.

He said there was no reasonable explanation why arguments should be advanced, abandoned and revived years later.

Veronica Guerin was shot dead on the Naas Road on 26 June 1996 by the pillion passenger on a motorbike which pulled up alongside her car.

Brian Meehan was convicted of her murder after a 31-day trial at the Special Criminal Court in 1999.

The prosecution case was that he was the driver of the motorcycle.

Meehan's legal team applied to have his conviction quashed on the basis of newly-discovered facts.

The court said the core issue raised in the application was whether evidence used in the subsequent trial of John Gilligan for the same offence was properly disclosed to Meehan's legal team.

If so, the court had to decide if Meehan's legal team failed to fully appreciate its significance such that it constituted newly-discovered facts for the purpose of a miscarriage of justice application.

Meehan lodged an appeal against his conviction in November 1999. In March 2001, Gilligan was acquitted of a murder charge alleging that he was the leader of the gang who had ordered Ms Guerin's shooting, but he was convicted of drugs offences.

Russell Warren, a member of John Gilligan's gang and a participant in the Witness Protection Programme, was a significant prosecution witness in both trials.

This application centred on evidence given by a witness at the trial that she had seen Warren in the vicinity of Naas Court house on the day of the murder.

Meehan's legal team says his trial lawyers were not aware that the same witness had failed to pick Warren out in an identification parade in a garda station.

However, the court ruled that this was not a new or newly-discovered fact.

The court found that all of the material on which Meehan was seeking to rely was available at the latest from the time of Gilligan's trial in 2001 and the arguments presented to the court in this application had been formulated, in detail, by 2003.

It ruled that Meehan chose not to present those arguments at his appeal and the choices he made as to how his appeal should be conducted have consequences.

Mr Justice Birmingham said to formulate grounds and arguments, not proceed with them and then seek to resurrect the same grounds and arguments as newly-discovered facts was unacceptable and amounted to an abuse of process.

The court also ruled that Meehan had sought to make use of material extracted from the transcript of Gilligan's trial.

It ruled that cases in which it is permitted to rely on the transcript of another trial are exceptional and this was not such a case.

Guerin family pleased by 'great result'

Speaking outside court, Jimmy Guerin, brother of the late Veronica, said he was "very pleased, I think that's the end of it now. We'll have no more cases. Its a great result for the gardaí and a great result for us.

"If anybody is abusing the process it's the vexatious cases that have been taken by Meehan and his likes.

"Justice Birmingham dealt with it excellently and dismissed any case that Meehan tried to make.

"It's no easier (on the family), things don't get easier but you just get on with it. But results like today are good and make you feel that bit better.

"I'm very pleased, delighted with the result and it puts an end now to all the cases hopefully, that's the whole judicial aspect disposed of.

"It's not easy (coming into court) but it's important to do it.

"I don't think I'll be laying eyes on him again. He's gone back now to where he's supposed to be and I'm happy with that.

"I think he will serve a life sentence.