Three in custody in connection with Gareth Hutch murder

Three people remained in custody on Saturday in connection with the murder of Gareth Hutch following two arrests on Thursday.

The news of the arrests emerged on Friday after a Garda chief superintendent from Dublin’s north inner city said he was “absolutely confident” the killers of Gareth Hutch will be caught.

Mr Hutch (35), a father-of-one, was killed close to his flat at Avondale House, North Cumberland Street, Dublin 1 on Tuesday.

The two men arrested on Thursday night are being detained under the provisions of Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007 as amended at Bridewell and Store Street Garda stations.

Separately, a man has been arrested in connection with the killing of Michael Barr at the Sunset House, Summerhill, Dublin 1, on April 25th.

Chief Supt Pat Leahy said on Friday that the recent four months had featured four murders in the north inner city, but the gangland nature of the killings was not new. What had changed was the rapid timeframe of the killings, he said.

Chief Supt Leahy told an emergency meeting of Dublin City Council’s joint policing committee that the murders had come at the end of a very successful five-year period for the north inner city community, and the garda in tackling drugs.

Vowing to catch the killers, Chief Supt Leahy said: “We are good at this, investigating these types of murders. We will bring these people to justice of that I’ve no doubt. I could not sit here and say that if I did not believe it.”

Meanwhile, a second person contacted Dublin city councillor Niall Ring over a garda letter warning of a ‘credible threat’ to their safety following Tuesday’s gangland murder of Gareth Hutch.

This is the second person to have contacted the Independent councillor after a member of the Hutch family contacted him on Tuesday night, saying they had been warned of a threat to their life.

On Tuesday, a man presented himself to the garda because he feared he would be shot dead when people saw detectives searching his house after the killing.

"There is a huge amount of fear and helplessness in the area, it doesn't help that people in Leinster House going off for another 90 days," Mr Ring said.

Mr Ring said Gareth Hutch had called to see him the day before he was killed as he was concerned about his son and thought there was a black spot in the complex where there was no CCTV coverage.