Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch showed a drastically changed appearance after he walked free from court today after being accused of murder.
Hutch, 60, - who always denied the charges against him - was found not guilty of the murder of David Byrne, 33, in 2016.
He had spent over a year in custody before a judge at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin today returned a verdict of not guilty.
Dressed in a white shirt, navy suit jacket with tan-coloured trousers, and with long hair and a long grey beard, he was seen leaving the Criminal Courts of Justice’s front entrance shortly after the judgement was read out.
Hutch in 1999 (Daily Mirror)His appearance was a sharp difference from his clean-cut look in years gone by.
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Byrne - a known associate of the Kinahan crime family - was shot and killed in one of the first deadly attacks related to the Hutch-Kinahan gangland feud. At least 18 people were known to have died as a result of the bitter dispute.
He died after being shot six times at a boxing weigh-in event at Dublin's Regency Hotel.
Ms Justice Burns said that the fast movements of the shooters at the Regency hotel did not seem to be those of a man aged in his 50s (PA)Ms Justice Tara Burns, part of a three-judge panel, described the Regency attack as a "meticulously planned high-velocity assassination attempt".
The brutal killing was carried out by a six-man hit team and it "sparked mayhem on the streets of Dublin" and resulted in a “significant number of callous murders".
Gerry "The Monk" Hutch (right) at the Special Criminal Court (PA)Ms Justice Burns said there was no admission among key audio evidence presented in the trial that Hutch was present. She added that the movements of the hit squad were fast, and did not show the motions of a man in his 50s.
She said that there was "a reasonable possibility" that the Regency murder was planned by Mr Hutch’s brother Patsy, and that Gerard Hutch had "stepped in" as the head of the family in the aftermath.
An investigation into Byrne's death is ongoing (PA)After the verdict, Justice Minister Simon Harris said an investigation into Byrne's death was "live and is continuing".
State witness Jonathan Dowdall was deemed to have a concerning "relationship with the truth", Ms Justice Burns added.
Dowdall is a former Sinn Féin councillor serving a four-year sentence for facilitating the murder of Byrne.
“A significant question hangs over Jonathan Dowdall’s character,” the judge added, because of his “patterns of lying, the court must approach his truthfulness with scepticism and extreme care”.
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Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald called the murder of David Byrne "a brutal and callous crime".
She added that Dowdall "should never have been a member of Sinn Féin".
A strong police presence was seen outside the court (PA)Two men, Paul Murphy and Jason Bonney, were found guilty of the lesser charges.
Murphy, 62, was found guilty of providing a motor vehicle to a criminal organisation, with the knowledge of or having been reckless as to whether those actions could facilitate a serious offence, namely, the murder of Byrne.
Bonney, 52, was found guilty of providing a motor vehicle to a criminal organisation, with knowledge of or having been reckless as to whether those actions could facilitate a serious offence.
Both men have been taken into custody ahead of a sentencing hearing on May 8.
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