A CONVICTED killer has been sentenced to an extra five years in jail for co-ordinating a botched cash van raid during which gardaí shot dead his co-accused.
Derek Hutch was sentenced to 16 years for his role in the raid but this was backdated to 2009 and is to run alongside his current jail sentence. This means his previous 2020 release date has been extended by five years.
The court heard Hutch also has previous convictions for weapons possession and assault causing serious harm. Last year he was sentenced to 10 years with four suspended for the manslaughter of Barry Maguire (27). He and an accomplice stabbed Mr Maguire to death on St Stephen’s Day, 2007.
He is also serving a 10-year term for handgun possession.
Yesterday Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Hutch was the “organiser and orchestrator” of the cash-van raid. He fled after the shots were fired
Hutch (27), Chapel Farm Avenue, Lusk, pleaded guilty to attempted robbery and possession of a sawn-off shotgun at Foxborough Road, Lucan on May 15th, 2009.
Judge Martin Nolan said that a huge amount of violence was used. He noted Hutch was already in jail until at least 2020 and said that he had to take this into account when sentencing him.
Another accused, Keith Murtagh (28), Lower Sheriff Street, Dublin, was jailed for 10 years in 2010. He was injured during the shoot-out with gardaí and later pleaded guilty to his role in the raid. Two other men were arrested in connection with the offence but were acquitted earlier this year.
Garda Insp Richard McDonnell told Alexander Owens SC, prosecuting, that Hutch travelled in convoy with the other men to the shop where the G4S cash van was due to refill an ATM.
Hutch was seen by waiting detectives getting out of the car wearing sunglasses and a hood. He started walking in front of the shop while on the phone. He returned to his car when the cash van arrived and was again seen talking on the phone.
The two masked raiders got out of their car. One, armed with a shotgun, grabbed cash-van worker Tim McDonald. They severely assaulted him and pointed a sawn- off shotgun at his head. They demanded that his colleagues release cash from the van, which they did.
When one of the raiders, Gareth Molloy, fired a shot in the air armed gardaí moved in, identified themselves and ordered Molloy to drop the gun. When he failed to do so, a detective opened fire, fatally wounding him. Murtagh was also wounded.
When the shooting began, Hutch sped away and was chased by gardaí. He was caught after a two-mile chase. Initially he claimed he was in the area to meet a man who was buying his car.
Feargal Kavanagh SC, defending, suggested Hutch was the “lookout” for the operation but the inspector described him as the “organiser and orchestrator”.
Mr Kavanagh said his client left school at 14 and began working but that he fell in with the wrong peer group and started committing crimes.
His client had a child but his relationship with his partner had broken down because of the length of his prison sentences.