A man convicted of the murder of Gary Hutch, the killing that began the Kinahan-Hutch feud, was a suspect in the fatal shooting of another man in Spain a year earlier.
James Quinn (35), from Dublin's south inner city, faces up to 28 years in a Spanish prison for the murder of Gary Hutch and a related firearms offence.
Hutch, an armed robber and drug dealer from Dublin's north inner city, was a nephew of Gerry Hutch. He was shot dead beside a swimming pool at the Angel de Miraflores apartments complex, near Marbella, in September 2015.
The feud, which has claimed 18 lives to date, shows no signs of ending. Gardaí in Dublin were on alert last night over fears the conviction may result in a retaliatory attack by the Kinahans on the Hutch family.
Previous convictions
Gardaí believe Quinn was involved in the fatal shooting of Dubliner Gerard Hatchet Kavanagh (44) in a bar in Elviria close to Marbella in September 2014, which was part of an internal Kinahan gang dispute.
Quinn, who has more than 70 previous convictions, was suspected of being involved in planning to shoot dead a Dublin-based member of the Hutch family while he holidayed in Majorca in August 2016.
However, the attack was botched and Trevor O’Neill, a Dublin council worker on holidays with his wife and children, was shot dead in a case of mistaken identity.
Gardaí and the Spanish authorities also believe Quinn organised a number of attempted murders in which the targets failed to show up or evaded their attackers. Quinn denied murdering Gary Hutch, claiming in a Malaga court he was in bed hungover with a prostitute at the time.
While the jury convicted him of murder, it ruled he was the getaway driver rather than the gunman. It also ruled the police had not proven he was acting on the orders of a gangland boss, meaning he cannot be jailed for life.
