Gerard Hutch denies murder as court hears covert recordings

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

Gerard Hutch pleaded not guilty to David Byrne’s murder at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin, with recordings played at a hearing on 24 November 2022.

The recordings captured conversations between Hutch and former councillor Jonathan Dowdall during a journey to Northern Ireland in March 2016, according to reports published by RTÉ and TheJournal.ie.

In one exchange, Hutch said the Kinahan cartel wanted to be “the biggest gang in Europe”, while discussing its growth and influence with Dowdall.

The court had heard ten hours of audio, but the judges had not decided whether the recordings could be used as evidence. Hutch’s defence challenged their admissibility, including on the ground that the bug continued recording in Northern Ireland.