Gerard ‘The Monk’ Hutch allowed bugged conversations in murder trial

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

Gerard ‘The Monk’ Hutch had conversations recorded in Northern Ireland admitted as evidence in his murder trial at the Special Criminal Court on 2 December 2022.

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

The ruling followed a defence application to exclude all or most of the recordings. The judge rejected a challenge to the District Court authorisation of the bugging device but accepted the challenge to its operation outside the State.

Hutch denies murdering David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in Dublin on 5 February 2016. The prosecution alleges Hutch asked Jonathan Dowdall to arrange a meeting in Strabane to mediate the Hutch-Kinahan feud.