Gerard Hutch has bugging recordings admitted in murder trial

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

Gerard Hutch’s murder trial continued at the Special Criminal Court, where judges admitted recordings from a garda bugging device on 2 December 2022. The ruling concerned the admissibility of conversations recorded while Hutch and Jonathan Dowdall travelled in Northern Ireland.

The court found that officers had no power to gather evidence in Northern Ireland and that the surveillance operation there was illegal. It nevertheless ruled that the conversations could be admitted in the interests of justice, finding that the officers acted in good faith and did not know their actions were illegal at the time.

Hutch denies murdering David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in Dublin on 5 February 2016. The prosecution says the recordings are part of its case against him.