Paedo Scout leader 'tried to grope prison officer'

GARDAI are investigating claims that a former Scout leader who sexually abused three boys attempted to grope a prison officer in hospital.

- BY PAUL HEALY Crime Correspondent

The Irish Prison Service has also launched a probe after the officer complained James Gilleran, 70, tried to touch his private parts while he was guarding him in Dublin's Mater Hospital last Thursday.

The alleged incident has also sparked concerns by prison bosses about how the pervert, who is under guard at the hospital, was being observed.

Gilleran, who was recognised by one of his victims when he appeared on The Late Late Show dressed in daffodils for an Irish Cancer Society fundraiser, is serving a two-year term for indecently assaulting the boys.

He was recently transferred from prison to hospital for treatment.

It is understood the Irish Prison Service contacted gardai from Mountjoy Garda Station about the incident.

A spokesperson for the Irish Prison Service told this paper that it "does not comment on individual prisoner cases."

Gilleran, of Parkview Court, Blackhorse Avenue in Cabra, north Dublin, was recognised by a survivor when he appeared on the Late Late in 2021.

The victim then came forward to gardai - as did another two victims - following the TV appearance.

Gilleran had been a leader of the 117th Francis Street Scout Group during the 1980s and it was then he abused the boys, who were aged between 11 and 13 years old.

He admitted five counts of indecent assault between 1983 and 1987 and was jailed in May of this year.