SCOOPS IN THE SUN | 

Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch spotted in Lanzarote pub year on from murder acquittal

The photo shows Hutch (60) sitting with a pint of Coors in front of him

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Alleged gang leader Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch has been photographed sipping on a pint at a pub in Lanzarote.

The photo shows Hutch (60) sitting with a pint of Coors in front of him, looking relaxed and healthy wearing a shirt and slacks.

It is understood the picture was taken at an open air bar in the resort town of Puerto del Carmen.

The pub ‘The Monk’ was spotted in this week is located only yards from another bar in which he survived a planned hit by the Kinahan cartel on New Years Eve in 2015.

Hutch has been spending time between Lanzarote and his native Dublin since being acquitted by a jury at the Special Criminal Court last April following a mammoth trial for the murder of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in 2016.

Despite evidence from his former co-accused Jonathan Dowdall, who turned State witness in the weeks before the trial began, Hutch was found not guilty of the charge and has been a free man now for almost a year.

This is in stark contrast to his enemies who lead the Kinahan cartel and have found themselves mostly stuck in Dubai ever since sanctions were imposed on them by the US government almost two years ago.

Apart from these sanctions, last month gardai recommended that exiled cartel boss Daniel Kinahan be charged over the murder of ‘The Monk’ Hutch’s brother, Eddie, in 2016.

Since Gerry Hutch’s acquittal over the Regency murder of David Byrne, it is believed gardaí have not received any intelligence to suggest there is an imminent threat to Hutch’s life and he has not received a GIM notice warning him of any threat.

However it is believed that Hutch, one of Ireland’s best known criminal figures does take major security precautions in case the cartel decide to target him again.

‘The Monk’ remains under garda investigation for being the alleged leader of the Hutch OCG, under anti-gangland laws and he was previously arrested while on remand in prison as part of this investigation but has never been charged.

Having been extradited from Spain at the end of September 2021, he was brought to Wheatfield Prison to the 3G landing where he remained until he was cleared of the murder charge almost a year ago.

Upon acquitting ‘The Monk’ of the murder of Kinahan gangster David Byrne, the three judge Special Criminal Court stated in blunt terms that there is 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”.

Sources say Hutch feels safe on the Spanish island of Lanzarote which he calls ‘The Rock’ and in Dublin, where he has been carrying on a normal life.

The situation was very different back in New Year’s Eve 2015 when the feud between the veteran criminal’s associates and the Kinahan cartel was about to explode.

He had been drinking in a pub on the island when he noticed two Kinahan associates scouting the venue and managed to slip out a back entrance to safety.

The Regency Hotel bloodbath would happen less than six weeks later.