Gerry Hutch and Jonathan Dowdall lose murder trial challenge

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

Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch and Jonathan Dowdall lost their High Court challenge to being tried for murder before the Special Criminal Court, in a judgment reported on 11 February 2022. The charges relate to the Regency Hotel attack in Dublin in 2016.

Mr Justice Anthony Barr dismissed their actions, finding no legal basis to prevent the Director of Public Prosecutions from certifying that the murder trials should be heard by the non-jury court. The men had argued that using the Special Criminal Court breached their rights because it operated as a permanent court despite having been established on a temporary basis.