A 38-year-old man has been jailed for life for the murder of a Dublin man shot dead almost nine years ago as part of the ongoing Hutch-Kinahan feud.
Thomas McConnell, of Sillogue Gardens in Ballymun, Dublin, pleaded not guilty to the murder of Gareth Hutch at Avondale House, North Cumberland Street in Dublin on 24 May 2016.
He was extradited from Turkey to Ireland three years ago to face the charge and convicted at the Special Criminal Court.
He has over 100 previous convictions.
Gareth Hutch was shot dead as he was getting into his car outside the Avondale House flats complex in Dublin at 9.55am on 24 May 2016.
Warning: This video from the scene contains footage some viewers may find disturbing
Gareth Hutch was a nephew of Gerard Hutch, the head of the Hutch organised crime group.
Two gunmen ran up to Gareth Hutch as he was getting into his car and shot him dead.
The two gunmen were Thomas McConnell and Jonathan Keogh. Keogh is already serving life in prison for the murder, as is his sister Regina Keogh and Thomas Fox.
McConnell is the fourth person convicted of the murder.
He was found to be intrinsically involved in the planning and execution of the "brutal and callous" murder.
McConnell waited with Keogh in a neighbour’s flat in the complex on the morning of the murder. They stored the guns and gloves there and kept watch on Gareth Hutch’s flat.
The neighbour Mary McDonald, who was subsequently granted immunity from prosecution, is now in State protection.
When Gareth Hutch walked out of his flat that morning, McConnell said "we are on" and the two gunmen ran to Hutch as he was getting into his car.
The 36-year-old was shot four times in the back and neck. He died later in hospital.
The gunmen discarded the guns in the car park and got into a BMW with blacked out windows which McConnell had parked there.
However, the car would not start, so they had to run out of the complex to Champions Avenue and got into a second getaway car, a Skoda Octavia.
Keogh got out in Summerhill, while McConnell drove the car to Ballymun. It was later found burned out.
Gardaí recovered the two guns and two other getaway vehicles with cans of petrol that were not used.
They also gathered CCTV, phone and forensic evidence which the Special Criminal Court found connected McConnell to the murder.
Mr Justice Alexander Owens said the evidence showed, beyond reasonable doubt, that McConnell was the second assassin along with Jonathan Keogh who followed Gareth Hutch from his home and shot him dead.
The court found that Keogh's gun discharged a number of bullets at close range that caused the injuries which killed Mr Hutch.
McConnell's gun was later found to have the safety catch on and did not fire any rounds during the assassination. However, the court found that even if McConnell deliberately left the safety catch on, his other actions in preparation for the shooting showed that he was part of a common design with Keogh and others to commit murder and his actions were intended to result in Mr Hutch's death.
McConnell's DNA was also found in the black BMW along with a can of petrol and two changes of clothes.
McConnell later lied to gardaí that he had sold the BMW to a man who was similar looking to himself.
Mr Justice Owens said this "yarn" was told to hide McConnell's guilty role in the murder plot.
His trial first began in 2023 but was postponed for 16 months, firstly when one of the judges was unable to continue, and then as the court awaited a Supreme Court ruling in a separate case.
McConnell's trial continued after the Supreme Court found in that case that traffic and location data relating to mobile phones could be used as evidence, even though the data was harvested using a now-invalidated law.
Family got justice, says mother of victim
The mother of Gareth Hutch has said the family got justice in the Special Criminal Court.
Vera Hutch said the family's hearts were broken by the murder, their lives torn apart and their world changed forever.
She said Gareth adored his son but will never get to see him grow up and be there for life’s milestones.
The child, she said, had lost his father, friend and mentor, his security and stability and had been left confused, angry and sad.
The officer leading the investigation said that today’s sentence was another indication of the gardaí’s determination to combat serious and organised crime.
He said that Gareth Hutch was murdered callously in broad daylight in a quiet residential community and he remembered the Hutch family in their loss.
He thanked the people who gave evidence during the trial, the investigation team and the people of the north inner city who supported the Garda investigation.
He also said the gardaí would continue to pursue criminals like Thomas McConnell, who fled to Turkey, wherever they go.
