Murder accused: ‘I was in bed with a prostitute and a hangover’
■ James Quinn denies shooting Gary Hutch in killing that sparked deadly feud
AN ALLEGED contract killer accused of the murder that sparked the deadly Kinahan-Hutch feud claimed he was in bed at the time with “a prostitute and hangover”.
James Quinn (35) broke a three-year silence to insist he was not at the Costa del Sol apartment block where Gary Hutch was assassinated with two point-blank shots to the head.
He told the jury at a court in Malaga for the September 24, 2015 murder: “I flew back to Spain from Dubai a couple of days earlier to attend a wedding. The morning of September 24 I was in bed with a hangover and a prostitute.”
Asked by state prosecutor Jose Barba if he could remember her name, the father-of-one from Dublin retorted: “I didn’t know her personally.”
Mr Quinn spoke during a 25-minute address to the jury of five women and four men set to decide his fate after brief opening speeches by lawyers.
He was warned just before taking the stand he could become one of the first people to be jailed for life in Spain following a recent legal change.
Three armed police stood behind the Irishman as he gave his evidence while others guarded a back entrance.
Mr Quinn, dressed in a blue designer suit, white shirt and blue tie, was aided by a translator sitting beside him.
He admitted under cross-examination he did not pay taxes but insisted he had a proper job, saying: “I rented tables to certain people in exclusive clubs in Puerto Banus and hired out luxury boats to some of those people. I was always paid in cash. I put some of the money in the bank and kept the rest.”
Saying he knew Hutch because they used the same gym in Puerto Banus where Daniel Kinahan trained at the time, he added: “We associated together but he wasn’t a friend.”
Mr Barba said Hutch, nephew of Gerry ‘the Monk’ Hutch, was targeted in the garage under his ground-floor flat in Miraflores near Fuengirola.
Jurors were told his balaclava-clad killer lay in wait for more than two hours after arriving in a getaway vehicle with two unidentified accomplices. Mr Barba described the assault as a “surprise attack”: “Quinn fired off some 15 shots as he chased his victim and they ran round the community swimming pool twice.”
Police found 10 mobile phones, €50,000 in €500 notes, a knuckle duster and a Japanese sword inside the apartment Hutch was renting.
The court heard that the baseball cap prosecutors allege Mr Quinn swapped for his balaclava before killing his victim was key to identifying him.
DNA taken from the cap, which Mr Barba said survived an attempt by the killers to torch everything inside their getaway BMW X3 near the murder scene, was matched to Mr Quinn.
Jurors heard that the Irishman was arrested a year after Hutch’s murder following DNA tests on a bottle of water he had drunk from.
Undercover police had seized it on a high-speed train from Madrid to Malaga.
Two unlicensed guns he allegedly used to kill Hutch, a nine-millimetre Glock 26 semi-automatic pistol with his DNA on it and a .45 semi-automatic Colt 1911 pistol, were subsequently found during a search of a property he is said to have been staying at.
Mr Barba said: “The defendant didn’t kill his victim for the love of it. He killed him because he’s a contract killer working for a criminal organisation. The murder sparked an international war between two criminal gangs which has led to the loss of life in Ireland and Spain.”
Pedro Apalategui, defending Mr Quinn, said: “The fact Gary Hutch suffered a violent death is not up for debate. The question is who killed him. I say it wasn’t my client.”
He also questioned how police had come by the “practically new” baseball cap linking his client to the murder, highlighting the fact the inside of the getaway vehicle it was “recovered from” was gutted.
Mr Quinn is also on trial for illegal weapons possession and faces a three-year prison sentence if convicted.
The father-of-one says he is innocent. The trial continues.