Hutch wanted to meet Kinahans to arrange ceasefire, court hears

Gerard Hutch said he wanted to meet the Kinahans to arrange a ceasefire in the ongoing murderous feud which by then had killed his brother, the Special Criminal Court heard this afternoon.

The 59-year-old, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in Dublin in 2016, said that Daniel Kinahan, one of the leaders of the Kinahan Organised Crime Group, was "weak" but that he would like to see the feud "put to bed".

While Daniel Kinahan and Liam Byrne, leaders of the Kinahan and Byrne Organised Crime Groups would be safe, Mr Hutch referred to the people who were carrying out the shootings and said "I'd like to be able to go out and get these assassins".

He also said that he "didn't want anyone else injured," that things would change in time but that in the meantime it was important to "just stay af***nglive".

Mr Hutch was secretly recorded speaking to the former Sinn Féin councillor Jonathan Dowdall who drove him to Northern Ireland to meet dissident republicans on 7 March 2016, a month after the murder of David Byrne. The recordings were played for a second day in court today.

The two men met four other men in a lane in Strabane, Co Tyrone, which Dowdall was unhappy with because he wanted a hotel or apartment.

Dowdall told Mr Hutch that they had met "the Northern command" and afterwards a man with a northern accent assured Mr Hutch there was "no grey area, they're looking after you they're looking after your family".

The court heard this afternoon that the IRA had contacted the Kinahans to arrange a meeting but told the representative the Kinahans wanted to send to "f**k off" because it was the Kinahans themselves they wanted to meet.

Mr Hutch said that it would suit Daniel Kinahan to have a meeting to "sit down" and "we'll have peace".

"I'd want them standing at it," he said to Jonathan Dowdall, "we'll have to, it's the best option or go to war".

He also said he was "talking to me mates" and "everyone is advising on ceasefire".

"I don't want anyone else getting injured," he said, "I'd like it put to bed and I'd like to be able to go out and get these assassins."

Mr Hutch also said that if they went to a meeting with the Kinahans, he did not want anyone saying who did what.

"You didn't do the Regency," Dowdall said to him.

"I don't want to go into any of that," Hutch replied, "We don't want him telling us he didn't do Gary, we're not looking for admittance off anybody." Mr Hutch's nephew Gary Hutch was shot dead as part of the feud in Spain in September 2015.

Mr Hutch and Dowdall also spoke about Sinn Féin and the leader Mary Lou McDonald. Mr Hutch said the only politician at his brother Eddie's funeral after he was shot dead in the feud was Christy Burke.

Dowdall, a former Sinn Féin councillor said the leader should have been there, "she stayed away from that funeral on purpose," he said.

"She should have come out and said I know that man," Dowdall said to Mr Hutch, "she should have said I know that family are involved in community and boxing".

He also said that Ms McDonald had accused the Hutch's of being involved in the Regency and had called them all "scumbags".

"I don't know," Mr Hutch replied, "they try to keep away from dodgy subjects at dodgy times" and he referenced the case of Thomas Slab Murphy, the convicted tax evader whom Gerry Adams had called a good republican.

Dowdall complained that there was a video of Ms McDonald introducing Pearse McAuley as a hero while subsequently criticising him when he was convicted of attacking his wife.

"She'll do that in the inner city, not in Castleknock," Mr Hutch replied.

Earlier, the court heard that Gerard Hutch said that the Kinahan Organised Crime Group had asked a man they had supplied with guns to set him up during the Hutch-Kinahan feud.

The 59-year-old also says on garda bugging devices that while there has to be mediation, he was not going to show a weak hand.

Both men agreed that too many people were being shot dead with Mr Hutch saying with "all the heartbreak that's left behind" there had to be "another way".

He said he was in favour of mediation with the Kinahans but he was not going to approach them, he did not want to show "a weak hand" and he could not get involved with them because "the messenger gets it".

Referring to the AK47s used at the Regency Hotel shooting, Jonathan Dowdall said the use of "the particular yokes" was the best thing that had happened because that had "made a massive statement".

He also said the "cop" could not " get over how hard, how focussed," the Kinahans are, "they don't give a b***x - were going to finish this".

Mr Hutch talked about an attempt by the Kinahans to set him up. He said the Kinahans had given a man guns who subsequently asked another man to "put" Gerard Hutch "in a spot".

There are also references to an attempt by two men on the life of Gerard Hutch in Spain.

Mr Hutch says he could only "go round and get them" in Dublin and with reference to a Kinahan linked criminal in Spain he says, "I could go off and kill his brother tomorrow."

The trial continues tomorrow.