Standing room only as highly anticipated Anglo trial gets under way

They barely acknowledged each other as they entered the dock.

The “three accused men”, as Judge Martin Nolan called them, hardly exchanged a word or a glance during the morning session at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court as the biggest trial in Irish corporate history — the Anglo trial — finally got under way.

Former titan of Irish finance Seán FitzPatrick, was flanked on either side in the dock by co-accused and fellow ex-Anglo directors, William McAteer and Pat Whelan, as the trio stared out at a crowded, at times uncomfortably warm, courtroom, its imposing dark wood panelling, giving way to porridge-coloured walls and oppressive ceiling lighting.