'Very health conscious' Gerry Hutch brings his own…

'Very health conscious' Gerry Hutch brings his own protein bars to court every day

Health-conscious Gerry Hutch is on Monk’s rations bringing a packed lunch to court and refusing to eat anything other than protein bars.

The 59-year-old, on trial for the murder of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in Dublin in February 2016, also believes he will be found not guilty. The Monk has been overheard telling inmates he will walk free from the Special Criminal Court because the State’s case will not hold up.

Hutch brings his own protein bars and water to court from Wheatfield Prison as he wants to stay in shape and not pile on the pounds. A source said due to his “dodgy stomach” he has special dietary requirements and cannot digest rich foods instead favouring basic meat and two veg fare.

The source told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “Hutch brings his own protein bar biscuits to court every day and drinks gallons of water. He likes to mix it with one of the fruit squashes and doesn’t drink fizzy stuff.

“You wouldn’t know it to look at him but he is very health conscious and likes to look after himself. When it comes to food, he would have been offered braised meat and mixed vegetables and chicken curry with rice this week.

“He can pick and choose what he wants and if it doesn’t suit him he gets an alternative option.

“At the weekends when he’s not in court he goes for walks in the prison yard with a number of other inmates that he knows.” Hutch has been described as “very secretive” since learning his former associate Jonathan Dowdall was set to testify for the prosecution.

The source said: “Hutch has not been chatting to staff or warders at all. But other inmates told how he believes he will be found not guilty as the State’s case won’t hold up.

“Whether it’s a bravado thing or whether he actually believes it remains to be seen. He has been reading a lot of legal books in his cell too and seems very relaxed.”

Earlier this week it emerged Hutch made a dramatic speech in the prison yard – in an apparent effort to stop drugs from coming in. A source said Wheatfield jail in West Dublin has been awash with drugs and Hutch was “fed up seeing inmates walking around like zombies”.

Hutch, of The Paddocks, Clontarf, North Dublin, denies murdering Kinahan henchman Byrne at the Regency Hotel during a gun attack at a boxing weigh-in event. Byrne, 33, was shot dead when three masked men armed with assault rifles, disguised as members of the Garda Emergency Response Unit, stormed the hotel.

A fourth armed man wearing a flat cap also stormed the building and a fifth assailant dressed as a woman in a blonde wig. Prosecutors will allege the Regency Hotel attack was “carried out by a group of people – of which Mr. Hutch [Gerry Hutch] was one”.