A brother of Willie Bonney has sensationally claimed that he confessed to him about being a getaway driver in the Regency Hotel shooting.
However the daughters of the now deceased Willie have slammed the new claims by their uncle Matthew Bonney — and insisted their father “had nothing to do with the Regency.”
Last week Willie’s son Jason Bonney (52) was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison after he was convicted of being the getaway driver to help Kevin ‘Flat Cap’ Murray escape following the gangland shooting on February 5, 2016.
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Jason had called two witnesses to try and back his now unfounded claim that his father, who died in 2019, was the man driving the BMW X5 on the day and not him.
Ms Justice Tara Burns said the court had been lied to in the “most malevolent manner” by Jason Bonney, who had wrongly tried to implicate his father.
But speaking to this paper, Jason’s uncle Matthew (78) insists that his brother Willie directly confessed to him as being the driver of the jeep — and claims he had intended to write a confession before he died.
“It happened in 2016. His car, the Beemer, all of a sudden after that incident in the Regency he wasn’t driving it,” Matthew claimed.
“He was nervous, agitated and I asked him about it. He didn’t say anything at that time that he had anything to do with it, but it dragged out another couple of years until 2018 he told me.
“He told me that he had to help people out. I asked him who the person was and he said ‘it doesn’t matter now, the person was murdered.’
“He said he drove the car (during the Regency).”
Matthew claims his brother, who he admits he had an “on/off relationship” with, confided in him that he drove one of the getaway vehicles as a favour — likely to the now slain Eddie Hutch, who he claims he knew.
“His exact words were that he owed people big time and that he was duped into it. He didn’t know there was going to be any shooting. It was more or less a showdown,” Matthew claimed.
“Then he said he was naive. He wouldn’t give any names. He said it was too dangerous.”
Matthew insists he wanted to be a witness in the case but wasn’t called.
He claims he urged his brother, who was unwell, to write a deathbed confession that would have exonerated Jason if true.
However, the alleged confession never surfaced.
Asked why neither he nor Jason Bonney ever came forward about Willie Bonney’s alleged role before the trial, Matthew claims it was out of loyalty.
The daughters of the late Willie Bonney said they were shocked and appalled at Matthew’s claims.
“The daughters of William Bonney totally refute claims made by Matthew Bonney who they haven’t had any meaningful contact with in over 25 years,” a statement said.
“They refute the claim that William Bonney was to give any notice to anyone as he had nothing to do with the Regency and they also refute the claim that the said person knew William Bonney was dying.
“William Bonney never drove a BMW and was totally exonerated in the Special Criminal Court.”
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