Jonathan Dowdall has told the Regency Hotel murder trial that he believes there was an attempt to set him up by linking him to one of the gunmen.
The former Sinn Féin councillor is serving a 4-year prison sentence for facilitating David Byrne's murder by making a room at the hotel available to those responsible.
Earlier this week, Jonathan Dowdall told the trial that he drove his father to the Regency Hotel to collect a key card for a room booked over the phone by his wife.
He claims his father was asked to book it by Gerry Hutch’s brother, Patsy.
He further claims that he was there when his father handed it over to Gerry on Richmond Road. This was the night before David Byrne was shot dead at the hotel.
Today, Dowdall said the original plan was for his father to meet Kevin ‘Flatcap’ Murray to hand over the key card. Flatcap stayed in the room that night and made no attempt to disguise his identity as he moved through the hotel.
The court has already heard he was one of the gunmen and Dowdall believes there was an attempt to set him up by linking him and his father to him.
When asked why he didn’t go to the guards until after he was charged with murder, Dowdall said he wasn’t going to speak to anyone until he knew it was safe to do so.
Reporting by Frank Greaney
