Elisa Menendez
DUBLINER James Quinn has been sentenced to 22 years for his involvement in the murder of alleged drug kingpin Gary Hutch in 2015 on the Costa del Sol.
35-year-old Quinn was handed 20 years for acting as the getaway driver in the murder and two years for possession of illegal weapons this morning in Malaga, reported the Irish Times.
Quinn was also ordered to pay Hutch’s family €90,000 in compensation and cover the court fees.
A nine-strong Spanish jury, of five women and four men, found Quinn guilty of the two crimes on Friday following a four-day trial.
It comes after state prosecutor, Jose Barba, shocked the court at the end of the fourth day of evidence last week, offering the jury an alternative indictment – that Quinn could be the getaway driver instead of the gunman – in a bid to increase chances of prosecution.
The prosecution had wanted the Dubliner sentenced to 28 years in prison – 25 for acting as a ‘necessary participant’ in the murder and three for possession of illegal weapons, while Quinn’s defence lawyers requested the minimum sentence possible.
Defending lawyer, Pedro Apalategui, revealed outside of court last week that he would appeal the verdict.
Dubliner Hutch, 34, nephew of Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch, was shot 15 times with two close-range shots to the head on September 24 2015, after an attacker chased him twice round the pool area at the Angel de Miraflores estate in Mijas, where the victim lived.
The murder is said to have provoked a series of at least 18 brutal killings between the Hutch and Kinahan clans.
The Irish Times reported Judge Ernesto Carlos Manzano handed Quinn 20 years for the murder, as he was not the gunman and did not have a criminal record in the country.
However, he insisted that Quinn and the unidentified shooter need ‘deep social reprobation’ for the ‘execrable’ attack.
Quinn was handed the minimum sentence for possession of illegal weapons, after a semi-automatic pistol with his DNA on it was found in a box on a bedside table in his apartment.
A 15-page document from the judge read: “It is appropriate to impose the minimum two years under Spanish law for the crime.
“That is because of the guilty man’s personal circumstances which are that he had a clean criminal record in Spain, and because the jury in this case has limited the weapons crime exclusively to the gun found in his home with the series number erased.”
The judge added that the two years Quinn had already served in custody should be taken into account.
