Blow for Gerry Hutch as 'unlawfully' taped conversations admitted in 'interests of justice'

Mr Hutch's defence lawyer said he wished to raise an issue on the admissibility of evidence to be given by Jonathan Dowdall

A prison van under Garda escort arriving at the Special Criminal Court where the trial of Gerry Hutch, for the murder of David Byrne, continues. Picture: Collins Courts

Judges at the Special Criminal Court have ruled that 10 hours of conversations between murder-accused Gerard 'The Monk' Hutch and ex-Sinn Féin Councillor Jonathan Dowdall that were captured by a garda bugging device are admissible in the trial, despite the majority of the evidence having been "gathered unlawfully" while Dowdall's jeep was outside of the State.

The three judges were on Friday delivering their ruling on a defence application to exclude either all or most of the conversations between Mr Hutch and Dowdall that were captured by a garda bugging device outside the State, weeks after the shooting of Kinahan Cartel member David Byrne at the Regency Hotel.