A nephew of crime gang boss, Gerry Hutch, died from an overdose of methadone at his home in Dublin’s north inner city last year at a time his family believed he had stopped taking drugs, an inquest has heard.
Eddie Hutch, 48, a father of one, was found dead in the upstairs bedroom of his home in Portland Place, Dublin 1 where he lived alone, on May 19, 2024.
The deceased was a nephew of the veteran criminal and head of the Hutch organised crime gang, known as “The Monk,” as well as the son of Eddie Hutch, who was killed in February 2016 as part of the Hutch-Kinahan gangland feud outside his home, a short distance from where his son lived.
A neighbour of Eddie Hutch Jnr, Paul Rooney, told a sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court on Thursday that he found the deceased’s brother, Gavin, knocking on his brother’s front door on May 19, 2024 but unable to gain access to the property.
Mr Rooney said their aunt, Sandra Hutch, also arrived at the house and it was decided he would use a ladder to get over a back wall to the property as the back door was left open before letting the others into the house via the front door.
Mr Rooney said he got a bad feeling as he went upstairs as there was “a horrible smell” in the house. The inquest heard he found Mr Hutch lying fully clothed on a bed in his room.
“His face was black and bloated. I knew he was dead,” said Mr Rooney.
He told the coroner, Clare Keane, that he alerted the emergency services to the scene at 12.49pm.
In reply to questions from the coroner, Mr Rooney said he had last spoken to Mr Hutch about a week earlier when they had “a normal conversation”. “There was nothing up with him,” he added.
Sandra Hutch fought back tears as she gave evidence that there was concern about her nephew when it was noticed that a porch light had been left on at his home for three days.
Ms Hutch, who formally identified her nephew’s body to Gardaí, said she waited in the hall while Mr Rooney checked upstairs before breaking the news that he was dead.
“I wanted to see him but Paul said not to go,” she recalled.
“It was so sad to see him like this, I just burst out crying,” Ms Hutch added.
Asked by Dr Keane about the deceased’s health, she acknowledged that he had mental health issues. However, Ms Hutch said she did not believe he was taking any medication at the time of his death, although she knew he had previously used methadone.
She told the coroner that her nephew had decided to stop doing drugs, as well as drinking and smoking, during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“He stopped everything as he thought he was deteriorating,” said Ms Hutch. “He just wanted to get away from drugs.” She expressed her belief that her nephew was also “broken up” about the death of his mother, Jenny, in February 2023.
Mr Hutch was also predeceased by his brother, Christopher “Bouncer” Hutch, who died from a drug overdose in 2003.
Garda Ciaran Cummins told the hearing that there was no evidence of anything suspicious in relation to Mr Hutch’s death.
Garda Cummins said there was “word of mouth” that the deceased had been seen three days earlier at a nearby pharmacy but he had been unable to find anyone to confirm such a sighting.
The inquest heard an empty, non-labelled bottle had been found in the property. Dr Keane said medical records showed Mr Hutch had a history of using benzodiazepines and had been diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2020. She noted he had been prescribed a number of drugs, including methadone.
The coroner said it appeared that the deceased had disengaged from health and drug treatment services from December 2020. However, she noted reports that his health condition had appeared stable in the months before his death.
Dr Keane said the result of a post-mortem showed a “high level” of methadone in Mr Hutch’s body, as well as a non-lethal amount of Xanax. The coroner said a very low level of alcohol was also detected, which might arise from the body having shown signs of decomposition.
Dr Keane suggested the unlabelled medicine bottle had been acquired at a time when Mr Hutch was believed to have been off methadone. She observed that regular users of the drug could tolerate it but it was “very different” for someone who had not taken methadone in a while.
Recording the cause of death as due to methadone toxicity, the coroner returned a verdict of death by misadventure.
Offering her sympathy to Ms Hutch for what happened and the distressing circumstances of how she found her nephew, Dr Keane explained his death was an accident with a risk factor which was the taking of “unprescribed methadone at a high level.”
At Mr Hutch’s funeral mass last year, mourners heard that he had died before finding out that he was going to become a grandfather. Two of the deceased’s three other brothers, Alan and Ross, had to watch his funeral service via videolink as they were serving sentences in Wheatfield Prison.
A decision on whether anyone will face a criminal prosecution over the murder of Mr Hutch’s father is expected later this year.
Gardaí are awaiting directions from the DPP as to possible charges over the fatal shooting of Eddie Hutch Snr when the father of five pulled up in his taxi outside his house at Poplar Row, Ballybough on February 8, 2016.
Gardaí believe Mr Hutch was shot in retaliation for the brutal murder of David Byrne – a senior member of the Kinahan gang – during an attack on a boxing weigh-in ceremony at the Regency Hotel in Whitehall, Dublin three days earlier.
That killing sparked a bloody gangland feud between the rival Hutch and Kinahan criminal organisations which has resulted in the deaths of 18 people to date.
In April 2023, Gerry Hutch was found not guilty of the murder of David Byrne following a 52-day non-jury trial before the Special Criminal Court.
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