HUTCH N GO | 

Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch secretly leaves Ireland after being cleared of Regency murder

‘The Monk’ remains under investigation for being the alleged leader of the Hutch organised crime group, under anti-gangland laws.

Today at 22:34

GERRY ‘The Monk’ Hutch has left Ireland and is understood to be back in Spain, the Sunday Worldcan exclusively reveal.

Gardaí were unaware that the 60-year-old crime boss was planning to leave the country until after he secretly jetted out of Dublin Airport on Monday.

‘The Monk’ had not come to any adverse garda attention since being cleared of murder in the Regency Hotel case last month.

Since Hutch’s acquittal over the Regency murder of David Byrne more than four weeks ago, it is believed gardaí did not have any intelligence to suggest there was an imminent threat to Hutch’s life and he has not received a Garda Information Message (GIM) warning him of any threat.

However, sources concede the Kinahan cartel would “grasp any opportunity with both hands” to murder the patriarch of the Hutch family.

After being cleared of the murder charge, ‘The Monk’ spent most of his time staying at his family home in Clontarf.

Earlier this month it emerged that the State is to oppose an application from Hutch to have his legal costs covered after he was found not guilty of murder at the Special Criminal Court sitting in Dublin.

He was cleared of the high-profile murder of Kinahan gang member David Byrne at Dublin hotel seven years ago.

Mr Byrne (33) died after being shot six times at a crowded boxing weigh-in event at the hotel on February 5, 2016, in one of the first deadly attacks of the Hutch-Kinahan gangland feud.

The attack was described by the court as a “meticulously planned high-velocity assassination” by a six-man hit team which left one man dead and two others injured.

It “sparked mayhem on the streets of Dublin” and resulted in a “series of callous murders”, the court heard.

Many of the victims were members of the Hutch family or close associates of the gangster.

‘The Monk’ remains under investigation for being the alleged leader of the Hutch organised crime group, under anti-gangland laws.

Upon acquitting Hutch, the three-judge court stated in blunt terms that there was a “reasonable possibility” the Regency attack was planned by Patsy Hutch and that ‘The Monk’ stepped in, as head of the family, to try to sort out the aftermath, “particularly as his own life was at risk”.

The Special Criminal Court also found, beyond reasonable doubt, that “members of the Hutch family were responsible for the attack at the Regency and the murder of David Byrne”.

The Kinahan cartel attempted to murder Gerry Hutch in Spain on New Year’s Eve 2015, but he escaped.

He was arrested in a police raid on a restaurant in Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol.

He was extradited at the end of 2021 and brought to Wheatfield Prison to the 3G landing where he remained until he was cleared of murder.

While Hutch was acquitted of the Regency murder, two of Hutch’s close associates were jailed last week for their role in the attack.

Taxi driver Paul Murphy (61) was sentenced to nine years and builder Jason Bonney (52) to eight and a half years for facilitating the killing of Byrne.