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Bugged conversations between Dowdall and Hutch admissible at trial, judges rule

2022-12-02 · Monaghan, Monaghan · Special Criminal Court

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Person profile: Jonathan Dowdall

At the Special Criminal Court in Dublin, judges ruled that approximately ten hours of recorded conversations between murder accused Gerard Hutch and former Sinn Féin councillor Jonathan Dowdall are admissible as evidence, despite finding the material was gathered unlawfully outside the State. The recordings were captured by a garda bugging device in Dowdall's vehicle during a journey to County Tyrone on 7 March 2016. Presiding judge Ms Justice Tara Burns determined that while the National Surveillance Unit had no authority to operate in Northern Ireland and the evidence was gathered in breach of the Criminal Justice (Surveillance) Act 2009, the garda officers acted in good faith with no intent to breach the law. Under section 14 of the 2009 Act, the court found it was in the interests of justice to admit the conversations. Hutch, aged 59, from Clontarf, Dublin, denies murdering David Byrne at the Regency Hotel on 5 February 2016.

Source: Courts News Ireland This page is a localnews.ie summary and index entry; the full original report may require a publisher subscription.

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