Murphy Junior claims Gogarty threatened to destroy his family

On his fourth day in the witness box, Joseph Murphy Junior has said that James Gogarty exploded like a nuclear reactor during a meeting in a Dublin hotel in 1992. He was annoyed about the way the company was dealing with his P60. Mr Murphy said that Mr Gogarty then demanded £400,000 and threatened to destroy the Murphy family and their company if he did not get it.

He said that Mr Gogarty said that he had a plan to contact the Revenue Commissioners, the newspapers and the Gardaí. Joseph Murphy said that he felt intimidated and threatened. He denied threatening Mr Gogarty in two late night phone calls two years later. He accepted that he should not have made the calls and he apologised. However, he said that he was driven by comments Mr Gogarty had made about his deceased mother. Mr Gogarty has made much of these calls, saying that there would never have been a Tribunal if Mr Murphy had been prosecuted for them.