Bodybuilder jailed after social media videos revealed his lies
A bodybuilder who claimed that a surgeon’s blunder left him too weak to lift anything heavier than an empty kettle has been jailed after Facebook posts showed him lifting massive weights and playing rugby.
Sean Murphy, 39, sued Wye Valley NHS Trust after claiming an operation on his bicep after a rugby injury left him so disabled he could no longer play the game, work or dress himself.
His claim unravelled after the NHS was tipped off that he was lying, resulting in the discovery of photos and videos showing him back on the pitch and pumping iron.
Whereas Murphy had claimed he could lift nothing heavier than an empty kettle, a video posted online showed him grunting and lifting a three-stone kettlebell, while another showed him curling a barbell to the Culture Club song Karma Chameleon.
His £580,000 damages claim was kicked out in 2022 and he has now been jailed for eight months for contempt of court at the High Court in London.
The married father also faces a bill of around £200,000, including the NHS’s costs of the original claim and the contempt case, plus interest, as well as the £40,000 in interim damages he had received before his lies came to light.
‘A more egregious act of deceit is hard to contemplate’
Pointing out the fact that Mr Murphy’s bid came at around the time of the Covid pandemic, Mr Justice Mould said: “A more egregious act of selfish and self-serving deceit is hard to contemplate.”
The court heard that Mr Murphy, a builder from Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, underwent surgery after tearing a biceps tendon during a rugby match in March 2017. During the operation, damage was caused to his elbow, resulting in nerve injury. Suing for compensation, he claimed his grip strength was so reduced that he was now dependent on others to dress him, said he could no longer work as a builder and had to give up rugby and the gym.
Previously he had played once a week and trained twice, but after the surgery, papers put forward as part of his claim stated that “all of that is finished”.
The NHS admitted that Mr Murphy was entitled to some damages, but said the £580,000 claim was vastly inflated by “gross exaggeration” of his ongoing symptoms.
Lawyers pointed to evidence that suggested Mr Murphy had been playing rugby within months of his surgery and was again lifting weights. Photos and videos posted online showed him lifting “very heavy weights” and back on the rugby pitch for Ross-on-Wye’s second team.
Local media reports even mentioned him in the lineup, with one suggesting that he and the rest of the team’s front row “bullied their opposition numbers for the entire game”.
Claim was ‘fundamentally dishonest’
Following a trial in 2022, Judge James Healy-Pratt dismissed Mr Murphy’s claim, which he found was actually worth about £5,000, branding his £580,000 bid “fundamentally dishonest”.
“The evidence, including video footage, social media posts and other web-related evidence, is compelling in its weight and cogency,” he said in his ruling.
The case was last week taken back to court by the NHS Trust, with barrister Claire Toogood KC applying for Mr Murphy’s jailing for contempt of court for false statements given to medical experts and in documents.
Giving judgment, Mr Justice Mould said that Mr Murphy had made a “sustained and deliberate series of false statements and lies” in order to exaggerate the effects of his injury to a “massive degree”.
Two videos could be dated after the injury, one showing him lifting a heavy weight bar in a garden, with another showing him lifting and swinging a 20lbs kettlebell in a kitchen.
The judge said the videos proved “beyond reasonable belief” that he was experiencing “no significant weakness” in his arm.
“I am satisfied that he deliberately lied to each expert by volunteering the false impression that he had been unable to play rugby,” the judge added.
The judge said that “the shortest period of imprisonment I am able to impose is eight months”.
