Gerry Hutch found not guilty of Regency Hotel murder…

Gerry Hutch found not guilty of Regency Hotel murder as judge delivers verdict

Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch has been found not guilty of the murder of David Byrne.

Ms Justice Tara Burns on Monday read out her lengthy judgement in the case against Hutch, who denied murdering the Kinahan cartel associate.

The three judges at the Special Criminal Court deemed there was no clear evidence that Hutch, 60, was one of the shooters and he was cleared of murder.

Meanwhile, co-accused men Jason Bonney and Paul Murphy were found guilty of providing a motor vehicle to a criminal organisation, with knowledge or having been reckless as to whether those actions could facilitate a serious offence by the organisation.

The cars were involved in a convoy for hitmen involved in the attack. Murphy, 62, of Cherry Avenue, Swords, and Bonney, 52, of Drumnigh Wood in Portmarnock, were both taken into custody after the verdicts were delivered.

Byrne, 33, was shot dead in the foyer of the Regency Hotel in north Dublin at 2.33pm on February 5, 2016, during a boxing weigh-in.

The so-called ‘Trial of the Century’ concluded in January following 52 days, 13 weeks, hours of CCTV evidence, 10 hours of tapes, multiple witnesses, maps, and the dramatic cross-examination of Jonathan Dowdall.

The verdict came after Hutch, who last week turned 60, left Wheatfield Prison in Dublin at 10.05am on Monday and entered the courtroom for the 11am hearing.

Hutch appeared in court wearing a white shirt and suit jacket, with long hair and a long grey beard. He was seen using a hearing aid headset to listen to proceedings.

Family members of Byrne were also present in the court as the judgment was read out by Ms Justice Burns, sitting alongside judges Sarah Berkeley and Grainne Malone.

The high-profile trial in the non-jury Special Criminal Court in Dublin concluded in January after hearing 52 days of evidence.

Former Sinn Fein councillor Jonathan Dowdall gave evidence as a prosecution witness.

Dowdall, who was to stand trial for murder, is now serving a four-year prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to facilitating the murder of Byrne.

Hutch's defence team dismissed Dowdall’s evidence as unreliable and flawed. The non-jury court also found it could not rely on his evidence.

The defendant has been held at Dublin’s Wheatfield Prison on remand having been extradited back to Ireland from Spain in September 2021.