Confident Hutch has flight booked

D-DAY has finally arrived for Gerry Hutch, who is said to be so confident he will be found not guilty that he already has his flights booked.

- PAUL HEALY

He's spent over a year in custody in Dublin's Wheatfield Prison, but today "The Monk" believes he will walk out the doors of the Special Criminal Court a free man.

If that happens it is likely Hutch, who remains a top target of the Kinahan cartel, will be facilitated with a swift exit out the side of the courts building - in the same way his nephew Patrick did in 2019.

He's then expected to almost immediately head to Spain - free from the possibility of further arrest or the threat of the cartel.

If things don't go his way then it's back to his restricted landing in Wheatfield Prison, and a mandatory life sentence.

Covering the trial from the beginning I can tell you that there is no "smoking gun" in the case against Gerard Hutch.

However, that doesn't mean the judges won't decide that there is compelling evidence to convict him of the murder of David Byrne.

In the end there are two main strands of evidence - what's said in a bugged 10-hour conversation and the claims of State witness Jonathan Dowdall.

Coupled together with the events before, at and after the shooting in the Regency Hotel, the State claims there can be no doubt that The Monk was "one of the two" gunmen dressed as gardai who shot and killed Byrne that day.