A DUBLIN MAN accused of murdering Gareth Hutch told gardaí he would never take sides in the Hutch/Kinahan feud as it was “between the two families” and “nothing to do with” him, the Special Criminal Court has heard.

Thomas Fox also said he had no reason to fight with the Hutch family and it was “not his thing going around murdering people”.

Fox said he had tried to distance himself from his co-accused Jonathan Keogh, after Keogh told him there was a threat on his life. He said Keogh was “mixed up with big people” and he felt nervous in his company.

Earlier, the court heard Fox went to Mountjoy Garda Station after being persuaded by his mother and told officers he was there to “clear his name”. Fox said his father, Michael Taylor, had been killed in 2011 and he “couldn’t put another family through that”.

Fox is one of three Dubliners accused of murdering Hutch (36), nephew of Gerry “the Monk” Hutch. It is the State’s case that he was instrumental in planning the murder of Hutch.

The prosecution contend that Fox was parked near Avondale House in a white Ford Transit on the morning of the shooting but due to a change of plans the white van was not required.

Hutch was shot dead as he was getting into his car outside Avondale House flats on North Cumberland Street in Dublin on the morning of 24 May, 2016. He died as a result of four gunshot injuries.

Fox (31) with an address at Rutland Court, Dublin 1, Regina Keogh (41) from Avondale House, Cumberland Street North, Dublin 1 and Jonathan Keogh (32) of Gloucester Place, Dublin 1, have pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Hutch.

Fox has also denied unlawfully possessing a Makarov 9 mm handgun on 23 May, 2016 at the same place.

Evidence

The court heard evidence today of seven out of nine interviews conducted by gardaí with Fox.

Detective Garda Declan O’Brien, of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigations, told prosecuting counsel Diarmaid Collins BL that gardaí arrested Fox on suspicion of murder with a firearm at Mountjoy Garda Station at 7.01pm on 24 May, 2016.

Fox told gardaí he lived with his mother and had a girlfriend of five years who was expecting their baby at the time.

Fox said he was in his aunt’s house on the morning Hutch was killed and she told him about the shooting.

“Being nosey” he cycled down to his girlfriend’s house that morning and they walked to Avondale House “to have a look” but they did not go into the flats.

In the second interview, Fox said he did not have “the stomach or the balls” to pull the trigger of a gun, adding “what kind of thick would hand himself in” to gardaí.

He said it was “not in him” to shoot anyone as his father, Michael Taylor, had been shot in “front of his ma” in 2011 and nothing had been done about it.

“It’s not in me to retaliate,” he said.

The accused said he knew Jonathan Keogh all of his life but the pair had become more friendly in the previous six months after Keogh started training him in the gym. They also did sunbeds together.

Fox’s girlfriend warned him to stay away from Keogh when he told them there was a threat on his life, the court heard.

The trial continues tomorrow with the remainder of Mr Fox’s interviews with gardaí.