Dowdall denies planning 'mass murder'
Former Sinn Féin councillor Jonathan Dowdall, a former co-accused of Gerard 'The Monk' Hutch who has turned State's witness, has denied that he was caught on an audio recording planning "mass murder", discussing getting "people whacked" and planting bombs.
Under cross-examination for a fifth day, Brendan Grehan SC, defending Mr Hutch, played excerpts of the recording and asked Dowdall to explain to the court parts of what was said in these recorded conversations.
The prosecution have already played the 10 hours of the audio recording of conversations between Gerard Hutch and Dowdall that were captured by a garda bugging device, while they were allegedly travelling north to a meeting in Strabane in Co Tyrone on Monday, March 7th, 2016 in Dowdall's Toyota Land Cruiser.
The State's case is that Mr Hutch had asked Jonathan Dowdall to arrange a meeting with his provisional republican contacts to mediate or resolve the Hutch-Kinahan feud due to the threats against the accused's family and friends.
Clarkson under fire
Jeremy Clarkson has said he is “horrified to have caused so much hurt” following backlash over comments he made in a newspaper column about how he “hated” Meghan Markle.
The former Top Gear presenter (62) said he would “be more careful in future” after the piece, written in The Sun, attracted criticism from high-profile figures and his own daughter.
In it, Mr Clarkson wrote he had dreamed of Meghan being paraded through British towns and publicly shamed, adding that “everyone who’s my age thinks the same way”.
Appeal for information on Belturbet bombing
An Garda Síochána renewed their appeal for information on a series 'no warning' bombs detonated in three locations across Ulster, 50 years after the attack killed two teenagers.
On December 28th, 1972, three separate bombs were detonated in Belturbet, Co Cavan, Clones, in Co Monaghan, and Pettigo, a border village in Co Donegal.
The bomb in Belturbet, which exploded at 10:28pm, caused the death of two teenagers, Patrick Stanley (16) and Geraldine O'Reilly (15). The bomb, hidden inside a stolen red Ford Escort, exploded on the town's Main Street and wounded eight other people.
Former Christian brother jailed
A former Christian brother who was convicted in October on 38 counts of indecently assaulting young boys has been sentenced to five years in prison.
The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his victims, was found unanimously guilty after a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court deliberated for four hours and 26 minutes.
The accused was described by one of the victims in his victim impact statement as “the epitome of evil”.
The court heard that the man was convicted of indecently assaulting five boys in the late 1970s, when the boys were then aged nine and ten.
