Ross Hutch hides out in hotels under fake name to escape gang

Hutch (24) was in the Sunset House in Summerhill on Monday night when the sixth victim of the deadly Kinahan/Hutch feud was shot dead.

It is understood that Hutch fled the pub after dissident republican Michael 'Mickey' Barr (34) was murdered.

It has now emerged that Hutch has been too terrified to stay in his family home in the Dorset Street area of the capital after the gruesome murder of his father Eddie Hutch Snr.

Taxi driver Eddie (58), brother of gangland boss Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch was shot dead on February 8 at his home in Poplar Row in nearby Ballybough, as part of the bitter feud.

Bizarre

"Ross has been booking into different city centre hotels under a bizarre fake foreign name but this has not always worked out for him.

"In some cases, hotel staff have become aware of his true identity and have then refused to allow him to stay because of security concerns," a source explained.

"This has meant that he has had to stay in safe houses on occasion as well."

Sources say that Hutch has "very good reason to be paranoid" because he was been identified as a key target for the Kinahan cartel.

He has been warned of a threat against his life from the mob in the aftermath of the Regency Hotel gun attack.

Hutch featured on RTE's Winning Streak last year and left presenter Sinead Kennedy red-faced after he paid her a compliment.

He appeared as a contestant on behalf of his older brother, Eddie (41), and the pair walked away with some €33,000 in cash and prizes from the National Lottery show.

Hutch has 54 previous convictions for offences, including assault, dangerous driving and endangerment, robbery and violent disorder.

In October 2013, he was given a three-year suspended sentence after he was caught carrying a sawn-off shotgun in a shopping bag on a Dublin street.

The then 21-year-old pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of the firearm on Sean McDermott Street on May 25, 2012.

The court heard that Hutch had been under threat at the time and had a serious drug addiction, but had successfully completed a five-month treatment programme.

His older brother, Alan Hutch (35), is serving an eight-year jail sentence for threatening to kill three gardai and claiming he had a grenade.

Alan Hutch was on bail for a violent robbery and dangerous driving when he assaulted the gardai in November, 2012.

In the aftermath of his father Eddie's savage murder in February, Alan was forcibly placed under maximum protection in Mountjoy Prison after gardai uncovered evidence of a plot by the Kinahan cartel to kill him next.

Prison bosses were forced to use a Control and Restraint team to remove Hutch from the Training Centre after gardai asked for his removal from general population with immediate effect.

He was later refused compassionate leave for his father's funeral because of security fears surrounding his release.

Meanwhile, there have been no arrests yet in relation to the feud-related murder of dissident republican 'Mickey' Barr on Monday night, the sixth fatality in the gang warfare.

Target

The latest killing has led to massive concern that the so-called 'New IRA' faction will target the Kinahan cartel.

Barr became a target because of his close association with the Regency Hotel gunman nicknamed 'Flat Cap', who is from the same county as him.

Detectives also believe that the Kinahan cartel had received information that Barr had also been involved in sourcing the Ak-47s that were used in the Regency attack from his IRA faction in the North.

Garda Superintendent Dan Flavin, of Mountjoy Garda Station, who is leading the investigation, said at a press conference this week that two masked men, described as "skinny", entered the pub and fired a number of shots.

He said the gunmen escaped in a silver Audi A6, registration 04C 17738, and drove north towards nearby Drumcondra, where they abandoned the car.

They then got into another silver car.

It is understood that the killers had a 'spotter' in the pub who was in contact with the assassination team - believed to be a gang based in Cabra.

It is not known if the killers spotted Ross Hutch in the pub at the time.

Barr was the sixth victim of the Hutch/Kinahan feud. The first person to die was Gary Hutch (34), who was shot at a Spanish apartment complex in September last year.

This led to the Regency Hotel attack on February 5, in which Kinahan cartel figure David Byrne (34) was shot dead and the revenge murder of Eddie Hutch Snr at his home just three days later.

Last month, key Hutch associate Noel 'Kingsize' Duggan (57) was murdered outside an address in Ashbourne, Co Meath, on March 23.

Innocent father-of-three Martin O'Rourke (24) was gunned down on Sheriff Street in Dublin city centre in a case of mistaken identity on April 14.

The actual target in this case was gangster Keith Murtagh, aligned to the Hutch faction.