A Garda has said it was “an error” that Ford keys were not seized from the home of Patsy Hutch - two weeks after the Regency attack.
Detective Sergeant Patrick O’Toole was giving evidence before the Special Criminal Court trial of Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch (59), who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel on February 5, 2016.
Det Sgt O’Toole told the court how he applied for a second warrant to get back into Patsy Hutch’s home in Champions Avenue in Dublin two days after the error - after learning that the ignition key for a Ford Transit van used by the Regency Hotel hit squad had not - yet been found.
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Gardai had searched the home on February 23, 2016, and had allegedly observed Ford keys hanging on a rack in the hallway - but didn’t seize them, he said.
Patsy Hutch is a brother of Gerry Hutch - and is not before the courts.
Under cross-examination from Defence Counsel Bernard Condon, Det Sgt O’Toole agreed that it was an “oversight” that the keys were not taken - as other keys had been that day.
“It was an error that it was not seized on the day and therefore I went back to the court to obtain a warrant to seize that,” Det Sgt O’Toole said.
Upon searching the house on February 25, gardai did not find the alleged Ford keys - but discovered an ACT Swipe card for Buckingham Village.
When applying for the warrant for February 25, Det Sgt O’Toole said that two members of An Garda Siochana had identified Patrick Hutch Junior from a photo taken of a man dressed as a female coming out of the Regency Hotel on the day of the shooting on February 5.
Patrick Jr, the court heard, is a brother of Gary Hutch who was shot dead as the result of a “dispute” between the Hutch and Kinahan families.
Patrick Jr previously stood trial for the murder of David Byrne but the trial collapsed on 2019 and a nolle prosequi was entered.
Detective Sergeant O’Toole said that on February 23, the Ford keys observed on the rack in the hall were “not accounted for by the occupier” of the house that day.
On the subsequent search at 11:20am on the 25th, Det Sgt O’Toole and a search party of four other officers knocked on the door and gained entry to it by Catherine Hutch - the wife of Patrick (Patsy) Hutch Sr.
Patsy Hutch was also present in the house at the time, the court heard.
During the course of that search a number of items were seized, Det Sgt O’Toole said, and were placed into an evidence bag.
Among those items seized was an ACT control access card which was found inside a wallet containing a driver’s licence belonging to Patsy Hutch and an E-Flow tag.
Officers also discovered a log book for a Ford van with a 131D registration in the bedroom of Patsy Hutch.
The van, the court heard, was registered to ‘Dowdall Electrical.’
The van was not present at the address, the Det Sergeant said.
He said he had a conversation then with Patsy Hutch and invited him to inspect the house following the search, and he had no complaints.
All of the exhibits seized were shown to him before they were taken from the house, he said.
Det Sgt O’Toole said he attended the Criminal Courts of Justice again on March 22, 2016 - this time to obtain a warrant to search an address at Buckingham Village in Dublin.
From enquiries he said gardai had information that a 03D Ford Transit van that was discovered burnt out following the Regency Hotel attack - was registered under a false name.
Gardai had CCTV footage of this van, he said leaving Buckingham Village on February 5, 2016 - the day of the shooting.
From searches that had been carried out, gardai had discovered two magnetic swipe cards associated with Buckingham Village.
The gates of Buckingham Village were being operated by a Latvian woman - who was arrested as gardai conducted the search on March 24.
During the search of the property, gardai discovered a Samsung tablet from the kitchen dining area, and a HP laptop from the downstairs bedroom.
They also found and secured spreadsheets in relation to rent paid, a document in relation to swipe cards - and a box containing packages of ACT cards.
The trial continues.
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