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Jonathan Dowdall loses appeal against sentence for helping gang in Regency murder

Dowdall, who is in the Witness Security Programme appeared at the High Court amd was flanked by prison officers during the hearing

Yesterday at 14:43

CONVICTED torturer and State witness Jonathan Dowdall today lost his appeal against his prison sentence for helping the gang behind the murder of Kinahan Cartel criminal David Byrne.

Dowdall, who is in the Witness Security Programme appeared at the High Court amd was flanked by prison officers during the hearing while armed gardai were on duty in the court complex.

Judge George Birmingham delivering the judgement said Dowdall had provided assistance to what was described as a Tier 1 criminal organisation.

The three-judge panel said they agreed with the view of Special Criminal Court and that the sentence was “well within the range.”

“Indeed in our view the sentence imposed when viewed in the round has to be seen as lenient, indeed very lenient.”

The former Sinn Fein city councillor dressed a black fleece show no emotion as his hopes of an early release were dashed.

At his appeal hearing last month it argued he was “duped” into assisting the criminal organisation behind the 2016 gangland attack at the Regency Hotel.

Dowdall was jailed for four years for his role in booking a room at the hotel for the gang, but he had sought to have his sentence reduced or set aside.

It was also argued not enough weight was given to mitigating factors, including his guilty plea and the effect his decision to turn State witness will have on his life.

His barrister said at last month’s appeal hearing said the hotel room the “launching pad” for the murder but was also the “launching pad for a contrived event plan of disinformation, which was put together in a way where my client was left front and centre”.

During the investigation, gardaí established the person using the room in the hotel was Kevin Murray, who had known paramilitary connections with the IRA.

During Dowdall’s sentence hearing, his lawyer said Murray was there to attract attention on the basis that investigating gardaí would be misdirected in a paramilitary direction.

Other grounds of appeal included that Dowdall wasn’t ‘a time waster’ and spent ten days being cross- examined during the murder trial.

It was argued that the Special Criminal Court had weighed the consequences of how Dowdall’s life was going to change on becoming State’s witness ‘with a blindfold’.

Counsel also said Dowdall should have been entitled to a 30 per cent discount for his guilty plea instead of 25 per cent and that a headline sentence of six years was appropriate rather than one of eight years.

Court of Appeal president Judge George Birmingham said last month his first reaction was that Dowdall had done ‘extraordinarily well’ and asked should he be drawing attention ‘to the range of options open’.