(Pictured: Mr Brendan Grehan SC. Photo: Collins)

Gerard Hutch’s defence team have told his Special Criminal Court murder trial that there is nothing in Irish surveillance law to suggest it has scope beyond the borders of the State and that the Oireachtas would have legislated for this with “irresistible clearness” if this had been the case.

Senior counsel Brendan Grehan, for Gerard ‘The Monk’ Hutch, said today that the State had “danced around” the jurisdiction issue concerning conversations between Regency Hotel murder accused Mr Hutch and ex Sinn Fein councillor Jonathan Dowdall that were captured by a garda bugging device. Counsel ….read more

(Pictured: Prosecution Counsel Sean Gillane SC. Photo: Collins)

Conversations between Regency Hotel murder accused Gerard ‘The Monk’ Hutch and ex Sinn Fein councillor Jonathan Dowdall that were captured by a garda bugging device are admissible in evidence and any issue about where the device travelled to is “a cloud” which the defence has placed over the case, a prosecution barrister has told the Special Criminal Court.

Prosecution counsel agreed with the presiding judge it was the State’s case that, once a surveillance device is placed and retrieved lawfully on a vehicle within this jurisdiction, “then it does not matter a damn where ….read more

(Pictured: Defence Counsel Mr Brendan Grehan SC. Photo: Collins)

The permission to deploy a garda bugging device that recorded conversations between Regency Hotel murder accused Gerard ‘The Monk’ Hutch and ex Sinn Fein councillor Jonathan Dowdall was sought under “a culture of secrecy” and with “an unintentional lack of candour”, defence lawyers have told the Special Criminal Court.

Defence barrister Brendan Grehan SC also submitted to the non-jury court that “on its face” there had been an illegal operation of the Criminal Justice Surveillance Act 2009 in this case and that the prosecution was seeking to “wheel evidence in” which “extended ….read more

(Pictured: Mr Gerard Hutch. Court Art: Mike O’Donnell)

The Special Criminal Court has heard a recording of Regency Hotel murder accused Gerard ‘The Monk’ Hutch tell ex-Sinn Fein Councillor Jonathan Dowdall that the Kinahan cartel want “to be the biggest gang in Europe”.

The court also heard that Mr Hutch agreed with Dowdall when asked if he would be happy “with just a few quid under the radar”, with the accused adding that he doesn’t want “hundreds of millions”.

In conversations captured by a garda bugging device when Dowdall and Mr Hutch allegedly travelled back from the North after meeting with republicans, ….read more

(Pictured: Former Sinn Fein Councillor Jonathan Dowdall. Photo: Collins)

Former Sinn Fein Councillor Jonathan Dowdall criticised party leader Mary Lou McDonald for not attending the funeral of murdered man Edward ‘Neddy’ Hutch and told his brother, Regency Hotel murder accused Gerard Hutch: “But ya’s were good enough to use Gerard for votes, ya’s were good enough to use for money”, the Special Criminal Court has heard.

In conversations captured by a garda bugging device when Dowdall and Mr Hutch allegedly travelled to the North to meet with republicans, Mr Dowdall also says Ms McDonald should have stated it was untrue that ….read more

The Regency Hotel murder trial has heard a recording of ex-Sinn Fein Councillor Jonathan Dowdall tell Gerard ‘The Monk’ Hutch that the accused’s “best move” was the “particular yokes used”, in what the prosecution alleges is a reference to the three AK-47 assault rifles used by the gunmen who murdered Kinahan Cartel member David Byrne.

In the recording, Dowdall told Mr Hutch: “And d’ya know what the best move you did was. I know it’s a small thing. I don’t know if you thought of it Gerard at the time I certainly didn’t but the best thing that happened was the ….read more

The Special Criminal Court has heard a recording of murder accused Gerard ‘The Monk’ Hutch tell ex-Sinn Fein Councillor Jonathan Dowdall that Daniel Kinahan looked “in a fuckin heap” from photographs he had seen in a newspaper after the Regency Hotel attack.

The trial of Mr Hutch has heard that the two men, in conversations captured by a garda bugging device as they allegedly travelled to the North to meet with republicans, also discussed many topics including politics and celebrities. Dowdall talked about how Sinn Fein would be “stupid” not to go into coalition and that they “can’t sit back and ….read more

(Pictured: Asst Comm Orla McPartlin. Photo: Collins)

A Garda Assistant Commissioner has said she would “absolutely not” have signed off on the destruction of records from a tracker device deployed on former Sinn Fein councillor Jonathan Dowdall’s jeep if she had the “slightest inkling” that the material was required and instead would have ordered its retention, the Special Criminal Court has heard.

Asst Comm Orla McPartlin told the non-jury court today that she has already started the process of “tightening up” the policy document which covers the destruction of records.

Earlier, the Regency Hotel murder trial heard that gardai had recovered records from ….read more

Gardai have recovered records from a tracker device deployed on former Sinn Fein councillor Jonathan Dowdall’s jeep which were believed to have been destroyed, the Regency Hotel murder trial has heard.

Sean Gillane SC, prosecuting, told the Special Criminal Court this morning that the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau had conducted a “fairly extensive” operation since last week, in which a securely stored desktop computer that had been listed for destruction was examined.

He added: “In the course of the examination of that device, it appears that a working copy of the material in question was located and is available ….read more

Judges at the Special Criminal Court have ruled that they will listen to ten hours of conversations between murder accused Gerard ‘The Monk’ Hutch and ex-Sinn Fein Councillor Jonathan Dowdall that were captured by gardai, despite Dowdall’s bugged jeep having been outside of the State during the majority of the recordings.

Mr Hutch’s defence lawyer Brendan Grehan SC submitted today their “core argument” would be that gardai were aware that Dowdall’s Toyota Land Cruiser was outside the jurisdiction for eight of the ten hours of those recordings from March 7, 2016 and that the evidence harvested from that “illicit fruit” should ….read more