Two Garda probes still active a year after ‘Monk’ walked free
Cops investigating gang leader claim & EX-GSOC officer at bash
TWO Garda investigations surrounding Gerry Hutch remain active – a year on from his sensational acquittal of the murder of David Byrne.
The Irish Mirror has established a major investigation into The Monk, 61, on suspicion of being the leader of an organised crime gang is ongoing – but he has not been questioned over it since his arrest in prison in 2021.
Meanwhile, a former GSOC officer is still the subject of an investigation by the National Criminal Bureau of Investigation over his attendance at a welcome home party for Hutch this time last year.
It comes as today marks the first anniversary of the not guilty verdict that saw Hutch walk free from the Special Criminal Court, following the so-called “Trial of the Century”.
The three-judge court found that Hutch was not one of the gunmen who shot and killed Kinahan cartel associate Byrne in the reception of Dublin’s Regency Hotel on February 5, 2016.
We then exclusively broke the story that a member of GSOC had resigned from his position after attending a bash held for Hutch at his home in Clontarf, North Dublin, on the night of April 17.
That story led to the NBCI launching a criminal investigation into the officer, who was subsequently arrested and released without charge.
The officer then left the country and went back to his native Australia, where it is understood he has remained since.
Despite that gardai say the investigation into the officer remains active.
Meanwhile, a probe into The Monk himself also remains active.
However Hutch has remained in Ireland – with the veteran criminal figure being spotted in Dublin numerous times this year.
Hutch frequently travels to his favourite holiday spot of Lanzarote, and has even returned to Fuengirola, the spot where he was arrested in 2021.
However, sources say he continues to return to Ireland and has been in and out of his home in North Dublin in recent weeks.
The Hutch trial garnered international attention and front page news for over 13 weeks.
The State alleged that Hutch was “one of the two” gunmen disguised as gardai and wielding AK47 rifles that entered the Regency Hotel and shot and killed Byrne, 33, in the foyer at 2.33pm on February 5, 2016.
The evidence of Jonathan Dowdall, who claimed Hutch confessed to him in a park in Whitehall in Dublin, was also dismissed.