Senior Garda would have retained Hutch/Dowdall tracker device records, court told

The court also heard today that tracker records confirm that Dowdall's Land Cruiser was in Northern Ireland for almost eight hours on March 7, 2016, when audio relied on by prosecution was recorded

A member of the Garda Armed Support Unit on duty at the Special Criminal Court during the trial of Gerry Hutch. Picture: Collins Courts

A Garda Assistant Commissioner has said she would "absolutely not" have signed off on the destruction of records from a tracker device deployed on former Sinn Féin councillor Jonathan Dowdall's jeep if she had the "slightest inkling" that the material was required and instead would have ordered its retention, the Special Criminal Court has heard.

Asst Commissioner Orla McPartlin told the non-jury court on Monday that she has already started the process of "tightening up" the policy document which covers the destruction of records.