Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch tells of the only way he'll talk about his sensational trial and freedom
The Irish Mirror bumped into Hutch (60) as he emerged from a shop while out on his moped in Dublin this week
Free man Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch told the Irish Mirror that he’d probably chat over a pint - but will never do an interview.
The Irish Mirror bumped into Hutch (60) as he emerged from a shop while out on his moped in Dublin this week - and although the conversation was at all times cordial and respectful, he outlined his reasons why he may never tell his sensational story, despite the interest.
“I’ve no comment whatsoever. I understand you have a job to do. I have to be so careful. Whatever I say to you, I’ll probably read about it,” Hutch told us. "Now if you want to ask me as a person and not as a reporter, it’s kind of a different thing. If I met you in a pub and we were having a pint and just talking about life in general it’s different,” he said.
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Hutch, who was acquitted of the gangland murder of David Byrne in the so-called ‘Trial of the Century’ last year, has remained silent ever since - and has now indicated that he intends to stay quiet. Recently Hutch was photographed at an event in Dublin’s inner city -as a crowd cheered on local hero boxer Kellie Harrington in the Olympics - something he brought up in our chat as an example of just how newsworthy he knows he is.
“Go to watch the f*cking boxing and you’re all over the paper. But it’s a story for someone and someone who took the photo. What does he get, 50 quid a pop. I understand,” he said. Asked about how he felt to be a free man, Hutch repeatedly said “I wouldn’t comment.”
When asked if he might ever sit down and tell his story - including how he was arrested in Spain in 2021, extradited and charged with murder, Hutch said: “I don’t know. If I was going to be talking it’s going to have to be to my f***ing benefit, you know?
“I wouldn’t talk whatsoever. There’s no sense in talking to you as a reporter. If you want to talk and have a pint as a normal guy, that's a different story.”
Hutch has been out and about in the capital for the past number of weeks - and sources say he is now openly and unashamedly living his life in Ireland ever since his acquittal last April. Although he has frequently travelled back and forth to Lanzarote and mainland Spain, Hutch is understood to predominantly be enjoying his freedom back here - after many years of living his life under threat.
It is understood that Hutch feels the State stitched him up for a crime he did not commit - namely shooting dead Kinahan cartel associate David Byrne in Dublin’s Regency Hotel in February 2016. His remaining in Dublin ever since is a clear message to his enemies and to those who prosecuted him that he’s now not going anywhere.
Hutch has never commented even in the wake of the unimaginable tragedy he has suffered - with the horrific gangland murder of his brother Eddie by the Kinahans - just three days after the Regency shooting. He’s also never spoken in the midst of a violent feud that saw his nephews Gary, Gareth, Derek Coakley Hutch and pals Noel ‘Kingsize’ Duggan and Noel ‘Duck Egg’ Kirwan brutally murdered.
Sources say gardai do not believe the threats to the likes of ‘The Monk’ and some of his family members are not as high as they once were - and that the tensions of the Kinahan Hutch feud have thankfully simmered down.
Last April Hutch dramatically walked straight out the front doors of the Central Criminal Courts in Dubiln’s Parkgate Street - after the non-jury Special Criminal Court found him not guilty of Byrne's murder.
Dressed in a blazer and sporting a large grey beard and long-hair, Hutch, who had spent the past year and a half in custody, calmly walked down the street, surrounded by a crowd of media and members of the public, saying nothing before getting into a taxi.
Murder victim David Byrne (33) was shot dead in the foyer of the Regency Hotel by armed gunmen disguised as gardai and carrying AK-47 rifles on the afternoon of Friday, February 5, 2016.
In reading out her lengthy judgement in the trial on Monday - Presiding Judge, Ms Justice Tara Burns, found that the evidence showed that Gerry Hutch was in fact in possession of those firearms and “had control of them” on March 7 - a month after the shooting - but this was “not the case Gerard Hutch was here to meet.”
She stated that the Prosecution’s case was plainly that Hutch was one of the shooters and was present in the Regency Hotel during the murder - but there was no evidence to support this claim - and his whereabouts on the day could not even be established.
The evidence of State witness Jonathan Dowdall, she said, could not be relied upon and she stated that the former Sinn Fein councillor, who had his charge of murder dropped, must be treated with “scepticism and extreme care.”
Dowdall had claimed to gardai that Hutch personally confessed to him to the murder of Byrne two or three days after the shooting in Ellenfield Park in Whitehall - but Ms Justice Burns said the court could not corroborate his claims. Justice Burns said then when Dowdall took the witness stand it would have been expected he would tell the full truth “warts and all,” but she said “that was not the case.”
When it comes to the day in which Dowdall claimed Hutch confessed to him in the park, Ms Justice Burns said one would have expected such an occasion would have left a “searing impression on Jonathan Dowdall’s memory” and he might be expected to remember whether it happened in the morning or the afternoon.
She said the moment should “stand out” in one’s life yet Dowdall got the day and the time wrong. Regarding tapes of Hutch and Dowdall played in court, Ms Justice Burns said the court concluded that the pair were discussing the movement of the three AK-47 rifles used in the Regency Hotel when they refer to them as the “three yokes.”
In one portion of the tape Hutch talks to Dowdall about “throwing” the yokes up as a “present” to Republicans up north, and this mirrors what happened two days later - on March 9, 2016, when IRA man Shane Rowan was caught with them, having earlier met Patsy Hutch at the Malahide Industrial Estate.
Therefore, Ms Justice Burns concluded that the court was satisfied that Gerry Hutch “had control over and was in possession of these guns at this point in time.”
Earlier she had said the court was satisfied that the Ak47s were moved to Shane Rowan’s Vauxhall Insignia car while he sat in another car with The Monk's brother Patsy Hutch - and on the basis of this she said the court was satisfied that Patsy, who is not charged with any criminal offence was “centrally involved” in the transfer of the weapons.
But she said when it came to the man on trial - Gerry Hutch - this was not what he was accused of, and in fact the prosecution’s case was that he was one of the two shooters who personally shot David Byrne in the Regency Hotel on February 5. While the accused was in possession of the firearms on March 7, she said an inference should not be drawn that he had them since the Regency attack.
And in fact she said that the evidence on the 10 hour tapes pointed to the opposite in that it establishes on the words of Hutch that the guns were being kept in Buckingham Village and that his brother Patsy had them. Gerry Hutch she said had difficulty in getting his brother to get them out of there.
Also in relation to the audio Ms Justice Burns said it “does not contain any direct admission” by Gerry Hutch that he was in any way present at the Regency on February 5th or that he was one of the shooters. In fact, she said there is a portion of the audio where he makes a comment that even the six people involved do not know who was involved - and that no one knows.
She contended that this is a “very odd comment” for Hutch to make if he is supposed to have earlier confessed and identified one of the other shooters to Dowdall in the park in Whitehall. Then she said when it comes to the CCTV footage of the attack , which occurred during a boxing weigh-in event run by the target - Daniel Kinahan - she said it does not indicate the presence of Gerry Hutch.
The prosecution then she said had asserted that Hutch had tacitly accepted his involvement in the attack on the tapes - but she said there wasn’t evidence for this either. Later in the tape the prosecution had alleged there was a “clear admission” from Gerry Hutch to involvement when Dowdall put it to him that he had told persons up north that it was them at the Regency.
Hutch had responded by saying “Yeah he knows yeah,” but the judges determined this doesn’t establish that Hutch was actually present in the hotel that day either. Ms Justice Burns said the portions of the audio that the prosecution seek to rely on do not give rise to Hutch being at the Regency or that he was a shooter - which is the charge laid before him.
She said it is possible to infer from statements on the audio that Gerry Hutch might have even given the go ahead for the Regency - but again that is not what he is accused of. And she further said that even if the case against Hutch was common design in that he plotted the event - there are also portions on the tape which raise questions over that.
The audio, she said, actually establishes that “Gerry Hutch was out of the country in the immediate aftermath” of the Regency at least and that he wasn’t around for much of the media coverage - something that is evident by Dowdall speaking to him about it.
The tapes even establish that Hutch appeared not to know much about what happened in the aftermath of the Regency in that he didn’t know about Buckingham Village being searched or as key to a van allegedly being found in Patsy Hutch’s home in Champions Avenue.
Ms Justice Burns said that is “unusual” if Hutch was involved in the planning of the event - and stated that one would imagine he would have had more interest in the ongoing garda investigation at the time. Ms Justice Burns did however say the court was satisfied that the evidence in the case showed that “members of the Hutch family were responsible” for the attack at the Regency and the murder of David Byrne.
The attack was organised and “meticulously planned” by members of the Hutch family she said, but that “is not the case Gerard Hutch is here to meet.”
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