John Gilligan claims he has a "bullet inside me" as he opens up on the Monk

Convicted criminal and drug trafficker John Gilligan has insisted that he doesn’t have cancer in an explosive interview.

The gangster, who was acquitted of murdering Veronica Guerin in 2001 and who served 17 years in prison for drug trafficking, was reported to be suffering from cancer earlier this year, with a person at the time saying that he was "very worried" about the disease.

However, in a new interview with Hot Press magazine, Gilligan has rubbished the claims that he has cancer — with the 72-year-old saying "on my mother’s grave" he is not suffering from the disease.

"I just couldn’t stop laughing when I read that," Gilligan said.

"No, I don’t have prostate cancer. On my mother’s grave, I don’t have cancer. I will not die of cancer one thousand million percent because, from my head to toe, there’s no cancer in my body."

Gilligan added that he doesn’t fear death and still has one of the bullets inside him following an attempt on his life in 2014, saying "I’ve no fears of dying. I’m after getting long enough out of life. I was shot six times. There’s still one bullet in me."

He also spoke about the acquittal of Gerry "The Monk" Hutch, who was cleared of being involved in the 2016 murder of David Byrne in the Regency Hotel, saying that he wishes Hutch "well."

"Of course, I was [happy of Hutch’s acquittal]," he said.

"A million percent. I wish him well. I knew him many years ago. The Hutch family was always known as a staunch criminal family. They were no rats, they were against the police. And I always respected them for that.

"And when I learned later about the Kinahans, the same. The Byrne lads, the man that got shot, Lord have mercy on him, I didn’t know them – but I knew their father and mother, and they were good people. I wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to them. If I had one wish, I wouldn’t waste it on any of them – but if I had ten wishes I’d wish that none of that trouble happened."

A documentary on Gilligan, titled "Confessions of a Crime Boss," garnered strong controversy and condemnation, with Minister for Justice Helen McEntee saying that she wouldn’t be watching the documentary when it aired last September.

Jimmy Guerin, the brother of murdered journalist Veronica, also criticized Virgin Media for filming and airing the documentary.

* This article was originally published on Extra.ie.