Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch has lost an appeal against his extradition from Spain to Ireland to face charges in relation to the Kinahan-Hutch feud.
The three judges who made the ruling, however, said he must be allowed to serve his sentence in Spain if he is convicted over the February 2016 Regency Hotel shooting in Dublin because he is a “resident” of the country.
Mr Hutch (59) has been in custody since being arrested on the Costa del Sol last month by the Guardia Civil. A search for him began in April after Ireland issued a European Arrest Warrant in relation to the Regency attack, which occurred on February 5th, 2016 during a weigh-in for a boxing event.
A group of men dressed in mock Garda Emergency Response Unit uniforms and armed with AK47s burst into the venue with two other gunmen, one dressed as a woman, and opened fire.
Daniel Kinahan, the Dublin criminal named in court as a leading figure in the Kinahan cartel, was at the event and gardaí believe he was the gunmen’s main target. However, he managed to escape as several other men were shot, including David Byrne (34) from Crumlin, who died from his injuries.
The attack was widely seen as revenge for the Kinahan cartel’s September 2015 murder in Spain of Gary Hutch (34), a former member of the cartel and the nephew of Mr Hutch. The feud between the rival groups has claimed 18 lives to date.
Permission
Mr Hutch had asked for permission to serve any potential sentence arising from the Irish prosecution in Spain, but the application was refused at an initial extradition hearing.
However, his lawyers argued in the appeal that he had legally become a full-time resident of Spain after receiving death threats in Ireland.
His side insisted that the threat to his life gave Spanish authorities the right to refuse the application to have him returned to the State and that the court in Ireland seeking his extradition had no “competent jurisdiction” to try him.
Mr Hutch also tried to justify the fact he was carrying a fake Croatian ID with his name and photograph on it when he was arrested by claiming that “this is down to the threats hanging over him”.
In their seven-page ruling, the judges said the decision to extradite Mr Hutch so he can be tried must stand.
“We introduce the condition that if he is convicted, this man should be returned to Spain so he can complete his sentence here as he has residency status in Spain,” they said. “There is no possible appeal against this sentence.”
The appeal decision was made by three judges of of the First Section of the Criminal Appeals Panel of the Audiencia Nacional Court in Madrid after private deliberations. It was not announced during a public court hearing.