Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch arrested in prison cell on suspicion of directing crime gang

The 58-year-old was taken into custody by gardai yesterday morning – just days before he is due to go on trial for the murder of David Byrne in the Regency Hotel.

Under Irish law, the offence of directing a criminal gang carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.

It has been reported that gardai had to get a section 42 warrant in order to arrest Hutch in the early hours of yesterday morning.

A garda spokesman today confirmed a man had been arrested in Wheatfield Prison:

"A male in his 50s has, today, been arrested on foot of a warrant issued under section 42 Criminal Justice Act 1999. He is currently detained under Section 4 Criminal Justice Act 1984 at a Garda Station in the Dublin Region on suspicion of Organised Crime related offences. “An Garda Síochána has no further comment.”

Last year, Hutch was extradited from Spain after he was charged with the murder of Kinahan cartel gangster David Byrne in February, 2016 following a lengthy investigation by Ballymun gardai.

Hutch had tried to avoid extradition to Ireland by claiming in his appeal against an earlier decision that he had decided to become a full-time resident in Spain because of threats to his life

In a hearing in Spain, Hutch had called the European Arrest Warrant that resulted in his capture “strange” and claimed police had tried and failed on three separate occasions beforehand to get him sent back to Ireland.

His defence team’s claims were mostly rebuffed by the three judges, although they consented to making it a condition of his handover to Ireland that he was returned to Spain and allowed to serve his prison sentence here if he ends up being convicted of murder after trial in Dublin.

Hutch’s team also called the European Arrest Warrant that resulted in his capture “strange” and claimed police had tried and failed on three separate occasions beforehand to get him sent back to Ireland.

Yesterday, ex-Sinn Fein councillor Jonathan Dowdall pleaded guilty to facilitating the murder of Byrne at the north Dublin hotel in February 2016 as part of the Hutch/Kinahan feud.

Dowdall’s father Patrick also pleaded guilty to the same charge.

Both Dowdall and his father answered "guilty" when the charges were read to them. Both pleaded guilty to participating in or contributing to activity intending to or being reckless as to whether such participation or contribution could facilitate the commission of a serious offence by a criminal organisation or any of its members, to wit the murder of David Byrne, by making a room available at the Regency Hotel, Drumcondra, Dublin 9 for that criminal organisation or its members, within the State on February 4, 2016.