The Special Criminal Court has allowed surveillance evidence in the Gerry Hutch murder trial – even though it found it was gathered illegally.
The non jury court ruled that hours of the March 2007 conversation between Mr Hutch, 59 and Jonathan Dowdall that took place in Northern Ireland were illegal and not covered by the 2009 surveillance act. The court found only surveillance in the Republic Of Ireland was legal.
That was a key submission by Mr Hutch’s defence team who wanted the bug evidence gathered by the National Surveillance Unity excluded from the court. But, although the three judge court found the northern surveillance was illegal, they also ruled that gardai had acted in good faith – and said the evidence was admissible.
