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Use of phone records to convict 'ruthless' Kinahan hitman a breach of his privacy, appeal told

2022-02-10 · Convoy, Donegal · Court of Appeal

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Person profile: Caolan Smyth

A Kinahan-linked man convicted of attempted murder is challenging his conviction on appeal, arguing that mobile phone records used to secure his conviction breached his right to privacy under Irish and European Union law. Caolan Smyth, now imprisoned at Cork Prison, was found guilty at the Special Criminal Court in January 2021 of the attempted murder of James Gately in north Dublin on 10 May 2017. Smyth was sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment. His co-accused, Gary McAreavey, received three years for assisting in the destruction of the vehicle used in the shooting. At the Court of Appeal, counsel for Smyth submitted that phone location data gathered under the Communications (Retention of Data) Act 2011 should not have been admitted as evidence, citing a 2018 judgment that found the legislation incompatible with EU law. The Director of Public Prosecutions contended that the phone records were recovered lawfully and that the legislation remains valid. McAreavey separately appeals his conviction, challenging whether evidence proved his knowledge that a serious offence had been committed.

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