GSOC officer resigns amid claims he attended party with Gerry Hutch

 • 1h ago

An investigator with the Garda Ombudsman Commission has resigned amid allegations he attended the same party as Gerard ‘The Monk’ Hutch on the day he was cleared of murder.

GSOC officer resigns amid claims he attended party with Gerry Hutch© Provided by Irish Examiner

It’s understood the officer, who has been involved in a number of high-profile investigations into garda misconduct, told a number of people he had attended the house party with the gangland crime boss on Monday night.

Other officers in the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (Gsoc) learned of the claims and it was reported to senior management.

A formal disciplinary process began after the chairman and two commissioners within Gsoc were informed.

It’s understood he was due to be suspended, but his resignation has now been accepted.

Bearded and long-haired, Hutch walked free from the Special Criminal Court on Monday after being found not guilty of the murder of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in 2016.

He was later photographed clean-shaven and with a fresh haircut in Dublin ahead of celebrations to toast his release.

The resignation of the Gsoc investigator, first reported by the Daily Mirror, was put to the Department of Justice, which confirmed that it had been notified by Gsoc about an “issue with a staff member”.

It remains unclear if the Gsoc officer actually attended the Hutch party or if he merely told people he had, but such was the level of concern, senior management decided to act immediately.

The Garda Anti-Corruption Unit is already involved in an ongoing probe into potential leaks of confidential information to organised crime figures in Dublin.

The officer was previously part of a probe into the death of Detective Superintendent Colm Fox, who was originally the lead investigator in the Regency Hotel shooting.

Det Supt Fox took his own life in 2019.

The Hutch murder trial was one of the most high-profile criminal cases in the history of the state, running for 52 days.

David Byrne, a member of the Kinahan crime gang, was shot dead at the Regency Hotel after five men raided the building, which was hosting a boxing weigh-in at the time.

It was the State’s case that Gerard Hutch was one of two gunmen disguised in tactical gear who shot Byrne in a “brutal and callous execution”.

However, the credibility of the state’s key witness, Jonathan Dowdall, was called into question by the judges when issuing the not-guilty verdict.

Dowdall had alleged that Hutch had confessed to the murder.

Over seven years on from the killing, which fuelled the vicious and bloody Hutch-Kinahan feud, no one has been convicted of the murder.

A spokesperson for Gsoc said: “Gsoc became aware in recent days of a potential conflict of interest involving a staff member. Gsoc immediately commenced an internal investigation into the matter. The officer concerned has now submitted their resignation and Gsoc’s investigation is ongoing. Gsoc has no further comment at this time.”