Regency Hotel hitman suspect hands himself in to prison

FUNERAL: Mourners carry the remains of slain taxi driver Eddie Hutch Snr after he was gunned down in an attack at his Ballybough home in Poplar Row, Dublin by a four-man hit-team following the murder of David Byrne in the Regency Hotel

Boxers Antonio Joao Bento (left) and Jamie Kavanagh (right) at the weigh-in before the attack at the Regency Hotel.

Mourners follow the hearse at David Byrne’s funeral. Photo: PA

February 22 2016 2:30 AM

A suspected hitman, believed to be involved in the murder of criminal David Byrne, has surrendered himself to prison authorities over fears he will be targeted in revenge attacks.

The man, aged in his 20s, who is a member of the Hutch gang currently embroiled in a deadly feud with the Kinahan cartel, handed himself into Cloverhill Prison on foot of an arrest warrant.

He is suspected of being one of the gunmen disguised as members of the Garda Emergency Response Unit who entered the Regency Hotel with assault rifles before shooting Byrne (33) dead during a boxing weigh-in event on February 5.

The man is currently being housed in the prison's protection unit and authorities at the jail were subsequently notified by gardaí that there were threats against his life.

A source described how his name has been circulating around the underworld since the attacks. "His name, along with a few other of the lads who might be involved, are out there - they've been doing the rounds. It's a case of handing themselves in to jail, where they think they're safe, before the Kinahans get them," the source said.

Another associate of the Hutch family also surrendered himself to gardaí on a theft warrant on February 6. The man, who is not suspected of involvement in the feud, is believed to have taken the decision due to safety fears over tit-for-tat attacks between the two gangs.

Gardaí hope to make arrests in the murder of Byrne and have identified the six-man hit team they believe entered the packed hotel.

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The gang's main target was Daniel Kinahan. However, he left the function room where the weigh-in was taking place minutes before the attack.

Meanwhile, photographs have emerged showing boxing fan Byrne posing for selfies with UFC champion Conor McGregor.

McGregor, who has no involvement in crime, was seen happily posing for photographs with fans at the National Stadium late last year, among them Byrne.