This is the defiant nephew of Gerry “The Monk” Hutch walking in the capital despite the heightened threat on him and his relatives.
Derek “Del Boy” Hutch, 39, strolled around O’Connell Street less than five days after his uncle was acquitted of the murder of David Byrne. Gardai are on high alert as they fear the Kinahan cartel will attempt to target The Monk, 60, and his family members.
There is an increased presence of officers around Dublin’s north inner city and around The Monk’s home in The Paddocks in Clontarf. But on Friday, Del Boy appeared carefree as he emerged from the house he shares with his father Patsy – Gerry’s brother – on Champions Avenue.
Read more: Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch may have fallen out with brother Patsy as possible Ireland exit plan emerges
The property has gardai posted permanently outside. Derek walked up to O’Connell Street, crossed and made his way down Henry Street.
On Tuesday, his father Patsy also displayed his own Hutch courage with a stroll down Dublin’s main thoroughfare. A source said: “Patsy and Del Boy live their lives looking over their shoulder.
“They don’t come out in public too often but when they do it’s on their home patch in the north inner city. Although the threat has lessened in recent years it’s still there and that’s why you have gardai outside their home 24 hours a day.
“In the last week, the concern is will the Kinahans employ someone to try to strike again against anyone associated with the Hutch family?” The father and son both reemerged following The Monk strolling through the front doors of the Criminal Courts of Justice last Monday.
The cleared Regency suspect later went to his relative’s home before returning to his property in Clontarf. He has since been pictured in the vicinity of the Dublin suburb on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.
Just before Ms Justice Tara Burns told the Special Criminal Court that Patsy’s brother Gerry was not guilty, she said that Patsy may have organised the hotel attack which claimed 34-year-old Byrne’s life.
She said: “A reasonable possibility arises on the evidence that the Regency was planned by Patsy Hutch and that Gerard Hutch stepped in, as head of the family, to attempt to sort out the aftermath of the Regency, particularly as his own life was at risk.”
Patsy’s eldest son Gary was once a senior Kinahan cartel member but the gang turned on him and murdered him in September 2015. After Daniel Kinahan’s mob tried to kill The Monk in a pub in Lanzarote, the Hutch gang struck back, orchestrating the Regency Hotel attack.
But the feud has since claimed the lives of Gerry’s nephews Gareth and Derek Coakley along with his brother Eddie and two pals, Noel Duggan and Noel Kirwan. Patsy has survived three attempts on his life at the hands of the cartel, with a number of men serving lengthy sentences for kill plots against him since the Regency Hotel incident.
The Monk is expected to leave the country following his acquittal. He must go to Spain to control his assets worth €10million but is expected to take a zig-zag route through eastern Europe first.
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