State witness Jonathan Dowdall’s father is getting armed escorts down to visit his son in prison, The Irish Sunday Mirror has learned.
Patrick Dowdall and other members of the family are being brought to Limerick Prison weekly to visit the former Sinn Fein Councillor. Patrick Dowdall was released from prison last month after serving a sentence for assisting in the 2016 murder of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel.
A source said the high security escort – paid for with taxpayers’ money – has been provided several times in recent weeks. The source said: "Jonathan Dowdall is in an area of Limerick Prison on his own now after his father was released last month.
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"Since then his father and other members of his family have been brought down by members of the ERU to visit him. There is still very much a threat on Patrick Dowdall’s life following his role in the Regency murder.
"Once Jonathan Dowdall is freed they will all be flown out of Ireland to start a new life under the Witness Protection Programme."
It emerged this week that Jonathan Dowdall, 44, is appealing the severity of his four-year sentence for facilitating the murder of Byrne.
He pleaded guilty to the section 72 offence last October after a murder charge was dropped. The Special Criminal Court heard how Dowdall drove his father Patrick to the Regency to book a room the night before Byrne’s murder.
The room which was booked was subsequently used by Kevin 'Flat Cap' Murray, now deceased, one of the suspected Regency gunmen.
A source said Dowdall may have to undergo cosmetic surgery to alter his appearance once released and relocated from prison.
The source added: "He will no doubt be sent to a far reaching part of another country where English is the primary language.
"He has such a recognisable face, though, after it being plastered all over the place during the trial, that he may have to get some cosmetic work to alter it slightly.
"He will need to change his appearance in some way, whether that’s with surgery of altering his hair and the like."
This week two men who acted as getaway drivers in the Regency attack were sentenced for their role in helping the Hutch gang.
Taxi driver Paul Murphy, 61, was sentenced to nine years while 52-year-old builder Jason Bonney was handed an eight-and-a-half-year term for facilitating the killing.
Their co-accused, Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch, is a free man after being found not guilty of Byrne’s murder last month.
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