HUTCH...AND GONE

OFFICERS OUTSIDE HOME SINCE 2016 AS BLOODY FEUD RAGED. PROTECTION TAKEN AWAY AS GARDAI FIGHT RISE IN STREET CRIME. MONK'S BROTHER PATSY LOSES 24-HR GUARD AS COPS MOVED.

- MICHAEL O'TOOLE

GARDAI have lifted their 24-hour guard on Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch's brother Patsy and the officers have been reassigned to tackle street crime, we can reveal.

The Irish Mirror as confirmed that Garda bosses took the decision to remove the protection post just last week and it has already happened.

Sources say the guard, which saw two uniformed gardai sitting in a patrol car yards away from Patsy's inner city Dublin home, has now been replaced by regular patrolling.

The post has been in place since the Kinahan Hutch feud erupted in early 2016 and has cost the State more than €1.5million.

Patsy, 62, was given around-the-clock protection after the cartel led by Danial Kinahan, 46, made him one of their top targets and repeatedly tried to murder him.

But sources have now told us that a recent security assessment concluded the risk had reduced - and assigned gardai have been put back on the normal beat.

"The post is gone and the members who were on him are now back on normal duties, a source confirmed.

"The post has been replaced by intermittent patrols and beats. There will be regular checks on the area, but the post is gone.

The post took up four gardai every day of the year at a cost of more than €3,000 a week.

Senior gardai have been under pressure about crime in the capital, especially after last month's brutal attack on US tourist Stephen Termini, 57, which happened on Talbot Street, just 500 metres from Patsy's home on Champions Avenue.

Both locations are covered by Store Street Garda Station and sources last night told us the return of four gardai every day to normal policing duties would help bosses in the area.

"Management are under pressure over crime in the area, a source said.

"People were asking why so many resources were being put to Patsy when the feud has gone quiet for years.