Courts

Thomas ‘Nicky’ McConnell becomes fourth person found guilty of murder of Gareth Hutch

Nephew of Gerard Hutch was killed in ambush at Dublin flat eight years ago

McConnell showed no reaction to the verdict. Photograph: Collins Courts
McConnell showed no reaction to the verdict. Photograph: Collins Courts
Eoin Reynolds
Fri Dec 20 2024 - 15:23

Thomas ‘Nicky’ McConnell has become the fourth person to be found guilty of the murder of Gerard Hutch’s nephew Gareth Hutch in an ambush in Dublin eight years ago.

Mr Justice Alexander Owens, presiding at the non-jury Special Criminal Court, 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.

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McConnell did not react when Mr Justice Owens revealed the court’s verdict. Wearing a white shirt and blue tie, he sat impassively while the judge went over the evidence that led to the verdict.

McConnell (38) of Sillogue Gardens, Ballymun, Dublin 11 had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Gareth Hutch (36) on May 24th, 2016 at Avondale House, North Cumberland Street, Dublin 1.

He now faces the mandatory life sentence for murder. In November 2018 the Special Criminal Court found Regina Keogh (47) of Cumberland St North, Dublin 1; Jonathan Keogh (39) with an address at Gloucester Place, Dublin 1; and Thomas Fox (32) with an address at Rutland Court, Dublin 1 guilty of the murder of Mr Hutch.

McConnell’s trial began last year 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.

The trial heard that McConnell and Jonathan Keogh used an apartment opposite Gareth Hutch’s home as a lookout spot and when Mr Hutch emerged from his front door, they followed him and shot him dead.

Mary McDonnell, who lived at the lookout apartment, told the trial in June last year that she could identify Jonathan Keogh because she had known him for many years but she did not know the second man.

When asked to identify the second man from CCTV footage showing Mr McConnell in a shop later the same day, she said she was “not really 100 per cent” and that she was “half and half”.

Mr Justice Owens said Ms McDonnell’s evidence could not be used to prove McConnell was the second gunman. The court instead relied on mobile phone data linking McConnell to the other murder plotters, CCTV footage connecting McConnell to various vehicles used in the plot, and lies told by the accused to gardaí that were indicative of guilt.

In particular, the court was satisfied that McConnell parked a black BMW in front of Avondale House with the intention of using it as the getaway car.

Following the shooting, Keogh and McConnell got into the BMW but could not get it started. They then ran to a Skoda Octavia, which the court said had also been parked nearby by McConnell that morning. They left the scene in the Octavia.

When gardaí searched the BMW, they found McConnell’s DNA, a can of petrol and two changes of clothes that prosecution counsel Fiona Murphy SC said marked it out as a getaway car. McConnell would later tell gardaí a lie 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.

In reaching its verdict, the court relied on further lies told by the accused and emails on a phone linked to McConnell which showed he had an “intimate knowledge of the murder”.