Jonathan Dowdall: Ex-Sinn Féin councillor jailed for facilitating murder

Jonathan Dowdall is a former Sinn Féin councillor

A former Sinn Féin councillor has been jailed for four years after admitting to facilitating a murder

David Byrne, 33, was shot dead at the Regency Airport Hotel in Dublin during a boxing weigh-in in 2016.

Former councillor Jonathan Dowdall and his father Patrick Dowdall both pleaded guilty to facilitating Mr Byrne's murder.

Patrick Dowdall has been sentenced to two years in prison for his role in the crime.

Jonathan Dowdall has agreed to take part in the Irish witness protection programme in order to give evidence in the trial of Gerry Hutch.

The presiding judge Tony Hunt said during sentencing that Jonathan Dowdall was not a man of previous good character but accepted that his life and that of his family will be upended and become more dangerous because of his decision to give evidence in the Hutch trial.

A hearing of the three-judge non-jury court two weeks ago was told that Patrick Dowdall booked a room at the hotel the day before the murder and drove his son Jonathan there.

Jonathan paid for the room in cash at the hotel before handing the key over to a member of an organised crime group.

The room was used by Patrick Murray, a dissident republican who was part of the hit team the following day and who has since died.

The following month, Jonathan Dowdall met another man and travelled to Northern Ireland.

The court heard his vehicle was under surveillance and the conversations between the two men were recorded.

Jonathan Dowdall had been due to go on trial along with Gerry Hutch, who is due to stand trial on Tuesday for the murder of Mr Byrne.

Gerard Hutch will stand trial for murder following the Dowdalls' sentencing

In 2017, Jonathan Dowdall was jailed for 12 years and his father for eight years, for falsely imprisoning a man in 2015 after waterboarding and threatening to kill him,

They both pleaded guilty.

The Court of Appeal later reduced Jonathan Dowdall's sentence to 10 years in jail with the final 25 months suspended.

Patrick Dowdall's sentence was reduced to seven years in prison, with the final three years suspended.