Suspect in feud murder had been told his life was atrisk
THE chief suspect for the latest murder linked to the deadly Kinahan-Hutch feud was warned of a threat to his life just 48 hours before the shooting of Derek Coakley Hutch.
The nephew of Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch was gunned down in the Bridgeview Halting Site in Clondalkin, Dublin, shortly after 3pm on Saturday.
Gardaí do not believe Coakley Hutch (27) was involved in the ongoing Hutch-Kinahan feud but that he may have been targeted because of his association with some of the main players.
The Irish Independent can reveal that a violent criminal suspected of involvement in Coakley Hutch’s murder was formally warned of a threat to his life last Thursday.
Scrawled
The criminal, aged in his 30s and from the north-inner city, was served with a Garda Information Message – also known as a GIM form – after detectives received information he was under threat from the Hutch gang.
It is understood this individual was the target of a murder plot less than two weeks ago. Graffiti had been scrawled on an inner-city wall in a bid to lure him to his death.
However, the plot was foiled after two firearms to be used in the assassination were seized by members of the Garda Organised Crime Bureau (DOCB) on January 12.
A senior source said: “Derek Coakley Hutch was not involved in organised criminality at the time of his death.
“His murder was a show of force by the Kinahan-linked thug who was being threatened by the Hutch mob.”
The chief suspect has more than 70 previous convictions including assaulting gardaí and drug dealing.
Detectives are also probing the involvement of a Coolock-based gang in the murder of Coakley Hutch.
This gang’s involvement is a “new dimension” to the Garda investigation and their role in the killing is being probed by officers.
It previously emerged that a younger brother of the murder victim heard him being shot dead via a mobile phone call from inside prison on Saturday.
Nathan Coakley Hutch, who was jailed last year, was talking to the two men who had driven to the Bridgeview Halting Site near Wheatfield Prison with Derek on Saturday when the shots rang out just before 3pm.
Nathan Coakley Hutch (24) is understood to have “gone mental” following the brutal execution of his brother, who was blasted a number of times in the head and body.
Senior investigators believe Derek Coakley Hutch drove to the halting site with his two associates to throw a parcel of drugs over the prison wall.