Strolling out the front door of the court a free man he was mobbed by the press then drove off in a cab

The Monk unfazed by media scrum outside court

- JOHN HAND

SURROUNDED by around 40 reporters and photographers, Gerry Hutch strolled out the front doors of the Criminal Courts of Justice, a free man.

Just 20 minutes beforehand The Monk had remained stoney-eyed as Ms Justice Tara Burns delivered a not guilty verdict.

At the time, he was sitting alongside Paul Murphy and Jason Bonney - who had been convicted of assisting the Hutch gang in carrying out the Regency Hotel hit.

For the previous 52 days of his trial, Hutch had been brought in and out of court from Wheatfield Prison.

But on this 53rd and final occasion, rather than being flanked into the precincts with prison officers, he got to walk out the front door of the court like every other person who was in there to observe the judgment.

In the meantime, journalists scrambled down to get outside the building.

At the bottom of the stairs from the second floor to the ground floor, a number of armed gardai were standing there.

After his nephew Patrick Hutch Jnr was previously acquitted of the charge his uncle faced, he was collected out the side gate of the CCJ on a bike.

But The Monk- unfazed by the huge awaiting media mob outside court-left on foot.

He didn't say anything - nor did he need to. This was his statement.

He strolled around to the left of the building as journalists shouted questions as a member of his legal team attempted to flag down a taxi. Gardai, uniformed and members of the Armed Support Unit, shouted to get off the road as they followed the entourage too. Traffic had stopped at times, some pulling down their windows to celebrate with one shouting: "Go on Gerry."