'The Monk' brought back from Spain to face Regency murder charge

File picture shows Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch.

Gerry Hutch is due to land in Ireland this evening to face charges in relation to the Regency Hotel murder of February 2016.

Hutch, known as ‘The Monk’, will be taken under heavily armed escort from Baldonnel Airport, west Dublin, to the Special Criminal Court in the city, a 20km journey.

He has been returned from Spain, after courts there twice rejected his appeal against extradition, on foot of a European Arrest Warrant issued by Irish authorities last April.

The Garda’s elite Emergency Response Unit is expected to provide armed escort for the journey, most likely accompanied by the Garda helicopter.

He will appear before a special sitting of the non-jury court at around 7.30pm when charges will be laid.

There will be tight security at the complex and outside the court for what will be a brief hearing.

He is being flown back on the European Arrest Warrant, accompanied by the Garda Extradition Unit.

When he lands, he will be arrested by a senior officer of the murder investigation team, based in Ballymun Garda Station. They will execute a domestic arrest warrant from the Special Criminal Court and take him to court.

He will be entitled to legal representation and it is understood lawyers acting on his behalf have been informed and will attend the hearing.

It is thought that, given it is a murder charge, Hutch will only be able to apply for bail at the High Court on another occasion.

Normally, prisoners charged with murder go straight to Mountjoy Prison, where authorities will determine where to move them to.

Given large numbers of Kinahan associates are locked up in Mountjoy, he will not stay there and may be taken to Cloverhill Remand Prison or the adjacent Wheatfield Prison, west Dublin, which has previously housed Hutch figures.

Ireland’s only high-security prison, Portlaoise, is thought to be an unlikely location as it too houses a number of Kinahan associates.

David Byrne, a senior lieutenant in the Kinahan crime cartel, was shot dead at the Regency Hotel on February 5, 2016.

Hutch was arrested in the Malaga area last month by Spanish police, accompanied by a garda. This followed a lengthy surveillance operation.

Hutch, aged 59, from Dublin’s north east inner city, has been a resident of Spain.

While rejecting his appeals against extradition, the Spanish courts did agree that if he is found guilty that he should serve his sentence in Spain, by virtue of his residency status there.