Hotel suffered severe losses since gangland murder, court hears

The Regency Hotel, where David Byrne was killed in February, has been suffering heavy financial losses since the shooting, the High Court has heard.

James McGettigan, director of Regan Development Ltd which trades as the Regency Hotel Group, said in a sworn statement that the hotel had suffered immense reputational damage and loss of business in the weeks which followed the February 5th shooting, in which two people were also wounded.

He said the viability of the trade and the livelihoods of staff had been undermined since a group of at least four armed men had entered the premises as a boxing weigh-in was taking place.

Micheal P O’Higgins SC, counsel for Regan Development Ltd, said the hotel had been closed off as a crime scene for several days after the shooting. There had been extensive media coverage of the incident, and afterwards many booked events were cancelled.

The hotel is seeking indemnity from its insurer Aviva, but Mr Justice Robert Haughton said today that the matter was not urgent and put the application back to the new law term in April.