Gerry Hutch has been found not guilty of the murder of David Byrne. 

In a lengthy ruling, Ms Justice Tara Burns pointed out that it was not the prosecution’s case that Gerry Hutch planned the Regency attack from afar - the specific allegation against him was that he was there and he was one of the “actual shooters.”

In his evidence, State-turned witness, Jonathan Dowdall, claimed Gerry Hutch told him he was one of the gunmen.

Gerry The Monk Hutch being followed by the media and reporters after being freed following his court case at the Criminal Courts, 18-04-2023. Image: Lazarov/RollingNews

However, the court was not prepared to accept his evidence in isolation and didn’t find any independent evidence to stand up his very serious allegation.

In the absence of corroboration evidence, the court was not satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Gerry Hutch was one of the hitmen and he was acquitted.

He walked out of the courthouse a short time later.

Before lunch, two other men were found guilty of facilitating the murder of David Byrne through the provision of getaway vehicles.

They were remanded in custody ahead of their sentence hearing in May.

Main image: Gerry Hutch walks free. Picture by: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie