DOWDALL LOSES REGENCY JAIL TERM APPEAL

>> Four-year sentence 'was not 'unduly severe' >> Ex-cllr lucky it was very lenient: Judge

- PAUL HEALY

JONATHAN Dowdall yesterday lost his bid to cut his four-year sentence over the Regency Hotel attack, with judges telling him he was lucky he got such a "very lenient" term.

The state witness, whose sensational evidence in the murder trial of Gerry Hutch was ultimately rejected, hoped that his sentence for facilitating the now infamous killing could have been reduced, arguing that it was too severe.

However, the three judges of the Court of Appeal ruled on Friday that if anything Dowdall's sentence was "very lenient" and if they had any doubts as to the appropriateness of that sentence "it would be as to whether a more severe sentence ought to have been imposed".

Mr Justice George Birmingham told the court that the judges "will content ourselves by saying we are entirely satisfied that the sentence cannot be regarded as unduly severe.

"We therefore dismiss the appeal.

Dowdall, 44, with greying hair and dressed in all black, remained stony-faced as the ruling was read out, while gardai and prison officers flanked him in the courtroom.

An armed garda presence also stood watch outside the Criminal Courts of Justice as Dowdall, who continues to remain under threat, was escorted to and from prison.

The former Sinn Fein councillor, who is awaiting word on his application for the Witness Protection Programme, now remains in an isolated landing in Limerick Prison.