Regency Attack | 

Kinahan gangster Liam Byrne pays tribute to brother David Byrne on eighth anniversary

The Crumlin mobster was fatally shot at a boxing weigh-in event on 5 February 2016.

Neasa Cumiskey

Mon 5 Feb 2024 at 17:12

The family of slain Kinahan gangster David Byrne left floral tributes outside the former Regency Hotel on the eighth anniversary of his death.

The Crumlin mobster was fatally shot at a boxing weigh-in event on February 5, 2016.

Blue balloons and bouquets of flowers were left at the Bonnington Hotel on Swords Road in Dublin, formerly known as the Regency Hotel, today.

Photos of Byrne with his name were printed on the balloons and placed alongside handwritten notes from close family and friends.

One note, left by his parents Sadie and James ‘Jaws’ Byrne, was addressed to their “beautiful son”.

It read: “Can’t believe you’re gone eight long years. We miss you so much, son. Our hearts are broke. Love Mam and Dad.”

A message from his brother Liam Byrne, who was extradited from Spain and returned to the UK in December, read: “David, my baby brother. I love and miss you so much! Your bro Liam.”

The 43-year-old and his brother-in-law Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh (56), described as the cartel’s ‘top man’ in the UK, are facing charges over a weapons plot which was busted after the Encrochat messaging service was compromised by authorities under Operation Venetic.

A trial date has been set for September with the case expected to last up to six weeks.

Kavanagh is currently serving a 21-year jail term for conspiring to import £30m worth of cocaine and cannabis into the UK and was arrested by the National Crime Agency (NCA) as part of that operation.

The floral tributes to Byrne come after Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch was cleared of the high-profile murder of David Byrne at the Dublin hotel last year following a 52-day trial.

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

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

Upon acquitting Hutch, the three-judge court stated in blunt terms that there was a “reasonable possibility” the Regency attack was planned by his brother 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”.

While Hutch was acquitted of the Regency murder, two of Hutch’s close associates were jailed 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.