Three “persons of interest” to gardaí investigating the murder of the brother of organised crime group leader Gerard ‘The Monk’ Hutch fled Ireland shortly after the attack and have never returned, an inquest has heard.
Detective Inspector Aidan Flanagan told Dublin District Coroner’s Court that a file on the investigation into the fatal shooting of Eddie Hutch outside his home in Dublin’s north inner city eight years ago was forwarded to the Director of Public Prosections within the past fortnight.
The 58-year-old father-of-five, from Poplar Row in Ballybough, sustained a number of gunshot wounds after he was approached by several assailants as he pulled up in his taxi outside his house on 8 February 2016.
A silver BMW 3 series vehicle, which was believed to be the getaway car, was found abandoned a short distance away on St Patrick’s Parade in Drumcondra.
Det Insp Flanagan informed coroner Clare Keane on the progress of the case and said some 1,300 investigative tasks, including the taking of 500 statements, had been carried out by gardaí.
The senior garda observed that the investigation into Eddie Hutch’s killing had been “quite complex”.
He also said 200 exhibits had been collected and “tens of thousands of hours” of CCTV footage examined.
“There was a lot of material to be scrutinised,” Det Insp Flanagan said.
The inquest also heard that a total of 13 people had been arrested as part of the investigation.
However, Det Insp Flanagan said three individuals, whom he described as “persons of interest,” had left the jurisdiction shortly after the murder.
“They never returned and they never made themselves available for the investigation,” he added.
He said such issues had added to the difficulties and complexity faced by gardaí leading the inquiry.
Inquest adjourned until September
Under the Coroners Act, Det Insp Flanagan applied for an adjournment of the inquest as criminal proceedings are being considered in the case.
The senior garda said the Hutch family was aware of the application and “understood the position clearly”.
No relatives of the deceased attended the short hearing.
Det Insp Flanagan told the coroner that he hoped gardaí would receive a direction from the DPP on the case within the next six months.
Dr Keane granted the application and adjourned the hearing for mention to 24 September.
The shooting of Eddie Hutch took place just three days after an attack on a boxing weigh-in ceremony at the Regency Hotel in Whitehall which sparked a bloody gangland feud between members of the rival Hutch and Kinahan crime groups.
A senior member of the Kinahan organisation, David Byrne, was killed.
Gardaí believe that Eddie Hutch was shot in retaliation for the murder of Byrne and was targeted by members of the Kinahan gang solely because he was the brother of Gerard Hutch who had gone into hiding after the Regency attack.
Although he had a number of convictions for minor criminal offences, including small-time fraud and shoplifting, Eddie Hutch was not regarded as having any involvement in serious crime.
However, he was suspected of helping to launder some of the proceeds of crimes organised by his brother and he was the subject of an investigation by the Criminal Assets Bureau in the late 1990s.
Last April, Gerard Hutch was found not guilty of the murder of David Byrne following a Special Criminal Court trial.
