Gerry Hutch found not guilty of gangland Regency Hotel murder

Gerry Hutch has been found not guilty of murdering a man at a Dublin hotel in 2016.

The 60-year-old stood trial accused of the murder of David Byrne who was shot six times at a crowded boxing weigh-in event at the Regency Hotel in the Irish capital.

It was one of the first deadly attacks of the Hutch-Kinahan gangland feud in Ireland.

After a 52-day trial at Ireland’s non-jury Special Criminal Court, during which he did not give evidence, Hutch, known as “The Monk”, was found not guilty.

During the judgment, Ms Justice Tara Burns said that there was “a reasonable possibility” that the Regency shooting was planned by his brother Patsy Hutch, and that Gerry Hutch had “stepped in” as the head of the family.

A well-known figure in Dublin, Hutch acquired the clerical themed nickname due to his allegedly “disciplined, ascetic lifestyle”.

Following the verdict, Hutch, sporting a thick beard and shoulder length grey hair, was followed by press and photographers as he made his way to waiting taxi.

Separately, two men were found guilty of facilitating Byrne’s murder.

Paul Murphy, 62, and Jason Bonney, 52, were both charged with providing a motor vehicle to a criminal organisation.

During proceedings, former Sinn Fein councillor Jonathan Dowdall gave evidence as a prosecution witness.

Dowdall is serving a four-year prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to facilitating the murder of Mr Byrne.

Hutch’s defence team dismissed Dowdall’s evidence as unreliable and flawed.

Evidence presented to the court included a taped conversation between Hutch and Dowdall as they travelled to Northern Ireland, and a Garda interview conducted with Dowdall.

Ms Justice Burns said that video recordings of police interviewing Dowdall, conducted after the Regency murder, “make for very uncomfortable viewing”.

She said that the manner in which he told the lies to officers “is extremely concerning for this court”.

“A significant question hangs over Jonathan Dowdall’s character,” she said and that because of his “patterns of lying, the court must approach his truthfulness with scepticism and extreme care”.