February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Gallagher had failed to appear for a court hearing last October and was extradited from the U.S. on Tuesday, May 13, after bench warrants had been issued.
He has been in prison in New York for the previous five weeks after being arrested outside his Manhattan bar, Traffic. He had waived his right to an extradition hearing and decided to return voluntarily.
Gallagher’s brief court appearance received widespread media coverage with one broadsheet paper devoting a whole page to it and other stories that variously described him as a “King of the Kitchen” and Ireland’s “brightest and brashest culinary star.”
Gallagher, who was brought into the court in handcuffs, sought bail but was remanded in custody.
Formerly of Killiney, Co. Dublin, he is charged with the alleged theft of three paintings in December 2000.
The paintings are claimed to be the property of the Fitzwilliam Hotel on St. Stephen’s Green, where Gallagher ran his former restaurant, Peacock Alley.
Det. Garda Angela Twyford gave evidence of formally arresting and charging Gallagher as he was handed over by U.S. marshals at JFK Airport.
Through his lawyer, Gallagher “sincerely apologized” to the court for his previous failure to appear. He said he had been branded a “fugitive” by the media, but that was not the case. The reason was he had married in the U.S. in September and had also established a business in New York, he said.
His application for U.S. citizenship would have been in jeopardy and he had contacted his lawyer to make an appearance to have the trial adjourned but the application was refused.
He was “unsuccessfully caught between a rock and a hard place,” he said.
The lawyer asked that he be granted bail, saying he had returned home without his passport and any possessions. Noting that Gallagher has a 6-year-old daughter in Dublin, the lawyer said the chef would sign on daily, or twice daily, if necessary, at a garda station.