Supreme Court refuses McGregor and Lawrence further appeals in civil case

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

The Supreme Court refused Conor McGregor permission to appeal further against a civil jury’s finding that he raped Nikita Hand. The proceedings were reported on 4 December 2025.

In November 2024, a High Court jury found that McGregor raped Hand at a Dublin hotel in December 2018 and awarded her almost €250,000 in damages. The jury found that James Lawrence did not rape her. Both men denied Hand’s allegations and said they had consensual sex with her.

Mr Justice Alexander Owens ordered McGregor to pay Hand’s costs but refused to award Lawrence his costs. The Court of Appeal subsequently dismissed both men’s appeals, including Lawrence’s challenge to the costs decision.

McGregor’s challenge centred on the jury hearing about his “no comment” answers to gardaí during the investigation. The Court of Appeal found that admitting the evidence had been incorrect and unjustifiable. It nevertheless dismissed his appeal, noting that the trial judge had repeatedly warned the jury not to treat the answers as supporting Hand’s claim and that McGregor had not demonstrated a real risk of an unfair trial.

The Supreme Court was not satisfied that McGregor’s application raised a matter of general public importance or that a further appeal should be permitted in the interests of justice. It also refused Lawrence permission to appeal the decision denying him costs.