Jonathan Gill contests extradition to Northern Ireland over Robbie Lawlor murder charge

Jonathan Gill, 44, is contesting extradition to face murder charges over gangland figure Robbie Lawlor's 2020 killing. His defence argues EncroChat evidence would breach his fundamental rights.

Gill contests extradition over EncroChat evidence and rights protections

Jonathan Gill, 44, of Malahide Road, Clontarf, appeared before the High Court on Wednesday to challenge his extradition to Northern Ireland, where he faces a charge of murdering Dublin gangland figure Robbie Lawlor, the Irish Times reports.

Gill's barrister, Gemma McLoughlin-Burke, argued that part of the prosecution case in Northern Ireland would rely on communications recovered from the encrypted messaging platform EncroChat — and that her client would be denied legal protections available to defendants within the European Union.

She told the court that the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has previously ruled that EncroChat messages may be inadmissible in EU courts where an accused person cannot challenge how the evidence was gathered and transferred between policing authorities. Such challenges, she said, can be brought before the CJEU and are supported by the European Charter of Fundamental Rights. The charter does not apply in the UK, she said, and the corresponding CJEU remedy no longer exists there. She described this as a "prima facie breach of his charter rights".

Counsel for the Minister for Justice, Leanora Frawley, rejected that argument. She told the court that EncroChat messages are, on their face, admissible in both EU and UK jurisdictions, and that Gill has multiple routes available to challenge their use in Northern Irish proceedings — including ordinary rules on admissibility and recourse to the European Court of Human Rights. The UK, she noted, remains subject to the European Convention on Human Rights. A dedicated tribunal has also been established in the UK to examine the use of covert surveillance material in criminal trials.

Frawley said Gill had produced no evidence to show that he would be unable to contest the messages' admissibility in a UK court, nor that he would be left without remedy if they were unfairly admitted. The legal test the Irish court must apply, she said, is whether extradition would result in a "flagrant and egregious breach of his fundamental rights" or a "serious risk of a fundamentally unfair trial" — a threshold she said Gill had not met.

Judge Patrick McGrath remanded Gill in custody. A bail hearing is due to resume next Monday, at which the judge said he will indicate when he intends to deliver his judgment on the extradition application.

Background: the Lawlor killing and ongoing feud

The warrant issued by Northern Irish authorities alleges that Gill participated in a joint enterprise to murder Lawlor on 4 April 2020. Gill also faces a separate charge of possessing a 9mm self-loading pistol with intent to endanger life or cause serious damage to property between 2 and 5 April 2020.

At an earlier hearing, Detective Garda Robert Cumerford told the court that Lawlor's shooting arose from a feud involving criminal gangs from Dublin, Drogheda and Sligo, in which several key figures have been killed. Gardaí believe Lawlor was responsible for the murder of Drogheda teenager Keane Mulready-Woods, whose dismembered remains were found at locations in both Drogheda and Dublin.

The State has objected to Gill being granted bail whilst the extradition decision remains pending.

Source: Irish Times