Jonathan Dowdall

Jonathan Dowdall is a former Sinn Féin councillor on Dublin City Council in Ireland.

Membership of Sinn Féin In September 2014 he announced his retirement from his role as councillor, citing health reasons. He had not officially resigned from the council but had quit Sinn Féin. In February 2015 he resigned. In late June 2015 he claimed he had been bullied out of Sinn Féin, claims which Mary Lou McDonald disputed on 1 July 2015.

Abduction of Alexander Hurley In January 2015 Dowdall advertised a BMW motorbike for sale on DoneDeal and was contacted by Alexander Hurley, who made an offer for the bike. Hurley had prior convictions for fraud, and Dowdall found allegations of fraud when researching Hurley.

Trial and sentences Both Jonathan and his father pleaded guilty to falsely imprisoning Hurley on 15 January 2015 at an address in Navan Road, to detaining him without his consent and to threatening to kill him. Judge Kennedy described the ordeal as "gratuitous, humiliating and degrading".

On 23 April 2018 the Court of Appeal reduced Jonathan's sentence to 10 years imprisonment with the final 25 months suspended and that of his father to 7 years with the final 3 years suspended.

Reactions Mary Lou McDonald said after the conviction: "I welcome the conviction of Jonathan Dowdall in court today. The details of the attack perpetrated by him are deeply shocking. Jonathan Dowdall left Sinn Féin some years ago. He subsequently worked with, and supported, a political opponent of Sinn Féin in the Dublin Central Constituency."

Both Dowdall and Gerry Hutch, who was also charged with the murder, claimed in judicial review before the High Court that trial before the Special Criminal Court would be unlawful and a breach of their fundamental rights because the court was acting as a permanent institution after being established on a temporary basis. These were dismissed by Mr Anthony Barr, who ruled that the legislation was neither temporary nor had any temporal limit.

On 3 October 2022 the Special Criminal Court was told that Jonathan Dowdall was willing to be a witness in the Regency shooting trial. The trial was adjourned for a week. Though Dowdall had been convicted of facilitating the murder, the charge of murder against him had been dropped. Dowdall is under Garda protection and is being assessed for the witness protection programme.