Well-known criminal figures associated with Hutch gang turn up at the home of Jonathan Dowdall

Sources say there is “serious concern” over the incident yesterday, and confirmed three men who called to Dowdall’s home are associates of the wider Hutch crime gang.

The alarm was raised around 3pm by a relative of Dowdall after two well-known criminal figures called to the family home looking for the father and son.

It is understood these men were driven to the house in Cabra by a third gang member.

Sources confirmed to the Irish Independentthat the men who called to the Dowdall home were identified from CCTV footage.

One of them is a convicted killer while the other two have survived assassination attempts by the Kinahan and Byrne crime gangs.

A feud exploded following the murder of Kinahan cartel member David Byrne at a boxing weigh-in in the Regency Hotel in February 2016.

Yesterday, armed gardaí converged on a house in Coolock, where they spotted the three gang members in a car.

When gardaí moved to confront them, the three men jumped out of the vehicle and ran into a house carrying a bag.

However, following a stand-off it is understood that gardaí were ordered to withdraw from the scene.

The incident took place a day after Jonathan Dowdall (44) and his father Patrick (65) pleaded guilty to facilitating the murder of Byrne by booking a room in the Regency Hotel. The Irish Independentcan reveal that the room was booked for IRA gunman Kevin Murray from Strabane, the gang member dubbed ‘Flat Cap’. Murray later died from motor neurone disease, before he could be brought to justice.

The Dowdalls were due to go on trial on Monday afternoon for the Byrne murder, alongside Gerard ‘The Monk’ Hutch who is also charged with the same offence.

Last year the former city councillor and his father were both charged in connection with the Regency attack around the time that Gerard Hutch was extradited from Spain to face the same charges.

Then in April of this year they were charged with facilitating the killer gang by making a room available for “a criminal organisation or its members” on February 4, 2016, the day before the fatal attack at the Regency.

At a brief hearing in the Special Criminal Court on Wednesday, the father and son entered guilty pleas to the charge of facilitating the murder of David Byrne.

They are expected to be sentenced by the Special Criminal Court on Monday before the separate trial of Gerard Hutch is due to commence.

Prosecuting counsel Sean Gillane said he would be making an application to the court in relation to the murder charge against the Dowdalls on Monday.

Over the past year both Jonathan Dowdall and Gerard Hutch made a number of unsuccessful legal applications against the State, including challenging the jurisdiction of the non-jury court which hears most gangland cases.

The defendants also applied to have the charges dismissed due to insufficient evidence.