Gerard Hutch trial: Prosecution says recordings should be admissible

Gerard Hutch, 59, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of David Byrne

The prosecution in the trial of Gerry Hutch has said recordings from a vehicle the accused was travelling in should be considered admissible.

Mr Hutch, 59, denies the murder of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in Dublin during a 2016 boxing weigh-in.

A bug recorded the accused as he travelled with former Sinn Féin councillor Jonathan Dowdall.

The defence is objecting to the admissibility of almost eight hours of the tapes.

It argues that because the vehicle was in Northern Ireland from 15:10 to 22:50 that day and so outside the Republic of Ireland, the tapes should not be used as evidence.

The period covers the time when Dowdall allegedly drove the two men north to meet with republicans.

Last Friday, defence barrister Brendan Grehan SC, for Mr Hutch, told the non-jury court that "on its face" there had been an illegal operation of the Criminal Justice Surveillance Act 2009.

The court has heard 10 hours of tapes.

At the Special Criminal Court in Dublin on Monday, a prosecution lawyer said once a surveillance device was placed and retrieved lawfully on a car within the jurisdiction of the Republic of Ireland "then it does not matter a damn where the vehicle was in the meantime".

He said an audio surveillance device was "simply an inanimate movable item" which had been "applied, sought, deployed, initiated and retrieved within the state" and that the data was recovered within the state.

"No question of extraterritoriality in truth arises,'' he added.

The lawyer added that any issue about where the device travelled to was "a cloud" which the defence had placed over the case.

Mr Byrne was murdered during a boxing weigh-in at Dublin's Regency Hotel in 2016

Mr Hutch, from the Paddocks in Clontarf, and Dowdall were driving to Strabane in County Tyrone when the recordings were made.

The court was previously told the murder of Mr Byrne, 33, was carried out execution-style as part of the Hutch-Kinahan gang feud.

Five men, three disguised as armed police in tactical clothing and carrying AK-47 assault rifles, carried out the attack.

The court has heard Mr Hutch wanted to meet the Kinahans to arrange a ceasefire and have dissident republicans mediate.

Dowdall, 44, of Navan Road, Dublin, was due to stand trial for Mr Byrne's murder alongside Mr Hutch.

However he pleaded guilty in advance of the trial to a lesser charge of facilitating the Hutch gang by making a hotel room available ahead of the murder.

He was jailed by the Special Criminal Court for four years.

The former councillor is being assessed for the Witness Protection Program after agreeing to testify against Mr Hutch.

Mr Hutch's two co-accused, Paul Murphy, 61, of Cherry Avenue, Swords, County Dublin, and Jason Bonney, 50, of Drumnigh Wood, Portmarnock, Dublin, pleaded not guilty to participating in or contributing to the murder of David Byrne by providing access to motor vehicles on 5 February 2016.

The trial continues.