Here is Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch sporting a beard-free new look as he stayed in Dublin a day after the bombshell not guilty verdict.
Our exclusive pictures show Hutch, 60, inside a car in the Dublin area on Tuesday - a day after he was freed from prison, having been found not guilty of the Regency Hotel murder of David Byrne.
Incredibly, in spite of the threat to his life and his extremely high profile, The Monk has remained in Ireland for the time being.
And after dramatic pictures and video of him emerging from the courts in Dublin with a lengthy beard and long hair on Monday - Hutch has now got rid of both.
He now sports a freshly clean-shaven face and a short haircut, which he clearly got in the hours after he sensationally walked free - having served over a year in Wheatfield Prison on remand.
Hutch did have a clean-shaven look but long hair throughout his 13-week trial - but on Monday, after a three-month wait for the verdict, he had grown a massive grey beard.
Dressed in a green jumper and beaming from ear to ear, Hutch was seen being driven around Dublin in the late afternoon on Tuesday, minus the beard.
It comes as pals of The Monk had claimed that he did indeed intend to stay in Dublin for a few days, before jetting off to the sun.
However, many had been sceptical that he would remain in Ireland for even one more day. Pals claimed that Hutch intended to celebrate his 60th birthday before he travels off to Spain to start his new life.
Hutch was dramatically flown back to Ireland on the foot of a European Arrest Warrant on September 27, 2021. He was then charged on the tarmac of Baldonnell airport, having been flown in in a military jet from Fuengirola, Spain.
Hutch was then driven by armed guard to the Special Criminal Court in Dublin, where he was formally charged with the murder of David Byrne.
A lengthy process then ensued in which Hutch challenged his case going before the non-jury court. He lost those battles and eventually his trial commenced in October of 2022, lasting a total of 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 Kinahan cartel associate Byrne (33) in the foyer at 2:33pm on February 5, 2016.
The evidence was based off secretly recorded tapes of Hutch speaking to Dowdall as the pair travelled up north on March 7, 2016.
In her judgement Ms Justice Tara Burns said the tapes uncovered that Hutch potentially was “in control” and in possession of the AK47 rifles that had been used in the Regency - but no evidence showed this was at the time of the event or even immediately before.
But she said no evidence existed on the tapes which proved the State’s case that Hutch was specifically present at the Regency on February 5, or that he was one of the shooters.
The evidence of Jonathan Dowdall, who claimed Hutch confessed to him in a park in Whitehall in Dublin, was also dismissed.
The convicted torturer turned State witness was considered to be an extremely difficult and untrustworthy witness, upon whose word the judges said they could not rely.
Hutch was therefore found not guilty of the murder and was immediately freed from Irish Prison Service custody on Monday afternoon.
He then sensationally emerged from the front doors of the Central Criminal Courts in Dublin’s Parkgate Street to a massive crowd of media and members of the public.
Hutch then walked up Infirmary Road, remaining silent throughout, walking back and forth before he made his way into a taxi. The taxi then made off and it was then considered by many that Hutch had likely gone straight to the airport.
However, in spite of an ongoing threat from the Kinahan cartel, Hutch remained in Dublin overnight and was spotted by us on Tuesday afternoon.
Sources say it is still expected that The Monk will not stick around for long, and he’s likely to travel abroad - most likely to Spain, in the coming days.
Hutch faced extreme hardship in the wake of the Regency Hotel attack when his brother Eddie was brutally murdered by the Kinahan cartel just three days after the shooting.
The cartel later murdered his nephews Derek and Gareth during the course of a bitter feud that also cost him his friend Noel Duggan.
The feud erupted when Hutch’s nephew Gary was murdered by the Kinahans in Spain in September 2015.
They then tried to murder Gerry in Lanzarote but a hit team showed up too late to a bar he was in and he had already left.
In her judgement Ms Justice Tara Burns said evidence indicated that the Regency may have been plotted by The Monk’s brother Patsy.
She also stated it was clear from the evidence that the Regency attack was carried out by “members of the Hutch family.”
Mob boss Daniel Kinahan was considered to be the primary target in the unprecedented hit, as the Hutch gang blamed him for Gary’s murder.
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