Frederick 'Freddie' Thompson identified in murder trial

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Frederick 'Freddie' Thompson was on trial at the non-jury Special Criminal Court for the murder of Dublin shoe shop manager David Douglas on Bridgefoot Street on 1 July 2016. Thompson pleaded not guilty. The proceedings were reported on 10 May 2018.

Detective Sergeant Adrian Whitelaw identified Thompson as a man in one of four alleged spotter cars used in the killing. The prosecution did not argue that Thompson carried out the shooting. The three judges had heard that his DNA was found in two alleged spotter cars.

Whitelaw identified Thompson in footage of a man who had got out of a silver Ford Fiesta at the Thompson family stall. The defence accepted that the man could be seen dismantling a mobile phone. Whitelaw also identified Thompson as the driver in separate footage of a silver Fiesta at the White Swan Industrial Estate and on Donore Avenue.

Defence counsel Michael O’Higgins accepted that Whitelaw knew Thompson well enough to recognise him. Under cross-examination, Garda Ciaran Byrne accepted that Whitelaw knew Thompson was a suspect before seeing the footage and had seen the phone-dismantling footage before the other footage.

The trial continued before Mr Justice Tony Hunt, presiding, with Judge Flannan Brennan and Judge Gerard Griffin. The judges were also hearing a legal issue concerning the admissibility of other evidence the prosecution planned to introduce.