BRIAN RATTIGAN HAS pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Declan Gavin and said he’s sorry to the victim’s family and anyone else he has hurt.

Rattigan’s plea was accepted by the State and he remains in custody as he awaits a sentence hearing on 20 December when Gavin’s family will have a chance to tell the court of the impact his death has had on them.

Gavin was stabbed to death outside an Abrakebabra on Crumlin Road on 25 August 2001.

Rattigan (39) went on trial for his murder and was convicted in 2009 but that conviction was successfully appealed last year.

When arraigned today on the same murder charge Rattigan, sporting a neatly trimmed beard and glasses, replied: “Not guilty to murder, guilty of manslaughter.”

Pauline Walley SC for the Director of Public Prosecutions said the plea was acceptable.

Brendan Grehan SC, on behalf of Rattigan, said his client wished to say, “he is sorry to the Gavin family and anyone else hurt by his actions”.

Justice Michael White told Gavin’s family that they will have a chance to speak of the effect the killing has had on them when the sentence hearing takes place on 20 December.