This picture shows murder accused Gerry Hutch as you’ve never seen him before – with a full head of hair and scraggly beard.
The 60-year-old looks almost unrecognisable in this photograph taken around the time of his arrest in Spain in 2021 for the murder of Kinahan associate David Byrne – and obtained exclusively by the Irish Mirror.
The photo shows the normally well-groomed Hutch, who turned 60 on Tuesday, had become dishevelled looking during the manhunt for him. We revealed in April 2021 that he had grown a beard and long hair, just as gardai launched an international hunt for him.
Read more: US President visits ancestral home in Mayo
It was an effort to disguise himself and stay one step ahead of gardai – as well as the Kinahan cartel. Gardai wanted to arrest him for charging over the February 2016 murder of Byrne at the Regency Hotel – while the Daniel Kinahan-led cartel was scouring Europe for the Monk so they could kill him.
The Kinahans regarded Hutch as their No 1 target and had a bounty of more than €500,000 on his head – and were moving heaven and earth to find him. The Monk had started to grow his hair long just before the Kinahan-Hutch feud erupted in early 2016 with the attack on the Regency Hotel in which Byrne (34) was murdered.
He was seen at the funeral of his brother Eddie (58) — gunned down in revenge by the Kinahans on February 8, three days after the Regency attack — with his hair longer than usual. But sources told The Star he started growing his head and facial hair in earnest after he left Ireland in the wake of Eddie’s murder.
Luckily for the Monk, law enforcement got to him first when the Spanish Guardia Civil and gardai found him in a restaurant in the Fuengirola resort on the Costa Del Sol in August 2021.
Hutch, who is expected to learn his fate on Monday when the non-jury Special Criminal Court delivers its verdict on the Byrne murder charge, was extradited back to Ireland in September 2021.
He still had the beard and long hair when he was flown back to Ireland on an Air Corps Casa plane, but has now shaved off his beard and shaved his hair.
READ NEXT:
- Micheal Martin defends Joe Biden over claims the US President 'hates the UK'
- Dangerous infection outbreak at Rotunda Maternity Hospital
- Audio emerges from moment flight has landing malfunction at Dublin Airport
- The six remaining public holidays in Ireland and if you're entitled to a day off
- Met Eireann's numerous warnings as Ireland braces for gale force winds
Sign up to the Dublin Live Newsletter to get all the latest Dublin news straight to your inbox
