Jonathan Dowdall, the State’s key witness in the trial of Gerard Hutch, has been accepted into witness protection following an assessment by Irish police. The decision to place Dowdall in the Witness Security Programme was made ahead of Hutch’s acquittal earlier this week for the murder of David Byrne during a 2016 shooting at Dublin’s Regency Hotel. The case against Hutch relied heavily on Dowdall’s evidence. Following his release from prison, Dowdall is expected to be relocated abroad, most likely to an English-speaking country, and given a new identity and livelihood.

Key witness Jonathan Dowdall has been accepted into witness protection by the Irish authorities despite his testimony against Gerard Hutch being largely dismissed by the Special Criminal Court. Dowdall, a former Sinn Féin councillor, had claimed that Hutch had contacted him to confess to being one of the individuals involved in the Regency Hotel shooting which killed David Byrne. Dowdall will likely be relocated abroad by the Irish police, probably to an English-speaking country where he will receive limited financial support and security protection from local services. The Witness Security Programme was established in Ireland in 1997 to provide protection for witnesses in high-profile cases.