The Special Criminal Court has been listening to more recorded conversations between Gerry Hutch and Jonathan Dowdall that took place a month after the Regency Hotel attack.

Mr Hutch is accused of murdering David Byrne, who was shot dead when gunmen stormed a boxing event at the Dublin hotel in February 2016 - he denies any wrongdoing. 

The audio played today picked up the recorded conversation between Jonathan Dowdall, a former Sinn Féin councillor, and Gerry Hutch at about 5.30pm on 7th March 2016.

The prosecution claims they were on their way to a meeting in Northern Ireland with republican contacts of Mr Dowdall’s.

A tracker and an audio recording device had been placed on Mr Dowdall’s jeep.

At one point in the recordings played today, Mr Dowdall asked Mr Hutch if he had any cause to use a bug detecting device; Mr Hutch said no and then said – seemingly in reference to An Garda Síochána: 

“I’d say they have a lot of places bugged.”

The two were also heard talking about the Kinahan Organised Crime Group and Mr Hutch could be heard saying, “We don’t want innocent people getting shot.”

He also said he was in favour of “mediation” but was not going to show a “weak hand” by approaching them first. He told Dowdall it’s very hard to get involved where the Kinahans are concerned; in his words, “The messenger gets it.”

Main image: Special Criminal Court. Picture by: Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie