The video which caught out ‘dishonest’ bodybuilder who ‘lied’ that NHS surgery left him disabled – as he faces £100K bill and even jail after Facebook posts showed him bench-pressing weights AFTER the operation
- Sean Murphy, 28, sued Wye Valley NHS Trust for £580,000 in compensation
- The bodybuilder claimed a bicep operation left him unable to lift heavy weights
A bodybuilder was caught out by a Facebook video showing him lifting heavy weights after claiming a surgeon’s mistake left him unable to lift anything more than an empty kettle.
Sean Murphy, 38, sued Wye Valley NHS Trust, claiming an operation on his bicep after a rugby injury left him unable to work, play rugby or dress himself.
His claims, however, started to unravel after photos and videos emerged showing the bodybuilder back on the pitch and lifting weights in the gym.
The video posted on social media showed him grunting while lifting a three-stone kettle bell – even though the bodybuilder claimed he couldn’t hold a saucepan.
His £580,000 damages claim was kicked out last year and Mr Murphy was left facing a £100,000-plus court bill – and now a potential prison sentence after a judge granted permission for contempt of court proceedings.
In this grab from a Facebook video, Sean Murphy, 38, (pictured) was shown lifting a 20kg kettle bell despite claiming his bicep operation left him unable to lift heavy weights
Bodybuilder Sean Murphy (pictured) was caught lifting weights in the gym after suing the NHS for £580,000
At the High Court, Judge Martin Picton said there was a ‘very strong’ case that Mr Murphy had deliberately lied to boost a ‘grossly exaggerated’ damages claim.
The court heard builder Mr Murphy, from Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, underwent his surgery after tearing a biceps tendon during a rugby match in March 2017.
During the repair operation, damage was caused to his elbow, resulting in nerve injury which he claimed impacted on almost every aspect of his day to day life.
Suing for £580,000 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 going to the gym.
Previously he had played once a week and trained twice, but after the surgery ‘all of that is finished,’ it was claimed in papers put forward as part of his claim.
Mr Murphy had claimed he couldn’t hold a saucepan or carry clothes, and that ‘the most he could lift was an empty kettle’.
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 back playing rugby within months of his surgery and was again training in the gym.
Photos and videos posted online showed him lifting ‘very heavy weights’ – including bench-pressing 150 kilos – in the gym and his garden, engaging in boxing training, 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.’
Following a trial at the High Court last October, Judge James Healy-Pratt dismissed Mr Murphy’s claim, which he branded ‘fundamentally dishonest’ after viewing the online evidence.
‘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.
Sean Murphy (centre) was seen playing rugby for Ross-on-Wye’s second team despite claiming his operation had left him unable to play the game
Mr Murphy’s claims he couldn’t play rugby, work as a builder or work out, were described by the judge as ‘wholly false’.
‘In truth, he had returned to playing rugby in October 2017, had returned to work, completing decking jobs and laying tarmac, had set up a new business, and had returned to the gym, lifting very heavy weights, bench pressing 150 kilos and participating in boxing training,’ the judge said.
Mr Murphy was ordered to hand back £50,000 the NHS had already paid out before the trial, as well as its lawyers’ bills, taking his total bill well over £100,000. The full amount has not yet been assessed, lawyers said.
The bodybuilder could now face a prison sentence as well, after NHS lawyers began High Court proceedings last week to have him committed to prison for contempt of court.
Asking Judge Picton to grant permission for proceedings to be brought, NHS barrister Claire Toogood KC said Mr Murphy’s ‘dishonesty’ went ‘to the heart’ of his damages claim.
And having been found ‘fundamentally dishonest’ by the trial judge, it was in the ‘public interest’ that contempt proceedings go ahead, she said.
‘He reports that he has poor grip in his hand – the most he can lift is an empty kettle – whereas he had a reputation before surgery of having a vice-like grip,’ she said.
‘However, one of the pictures shows him lifting a heavy kettle bell.
‘It is of the utmost importance for those who come to court to be honest in their claims.
‘It is of necessity that contempt proceedings are brought to deter others from making these mistakes, but also to punish those who seek to undermine the system of justice by making dishonest and fraudulent claims, as the NHS submits this was.’
Representing himself via a video link from home, Mr Murphy branded the NHS’s dishonesty allegation ‘absolute rubbish’ and said it was ‘beyond ridiculous’ that he could be jailed.
A judge said the bodybuilder, shown posing for a picture, had ‘exaggerated’ his injuries
He said some of the photographic evidence was a decade old, while the videos could have been taken at ‘any time’ and insisted he continues to be disabled by his injury.
‘I can’t dress myself, my wife dresses me every day,’ he said.
‘I am suffering severe anxiety attacks because of this case. I am not somebody who would swindle money from the NHS.’
But Judge Picton granted permission for the contempt of court proceedings to go ahead, warning Mr Murphy that the consequences for him and his family could be ‘very serious.’
‘There is a strong prima facie case that Mr Murphy has deliberately and falsely set out to exaggerate the impact of the surgery,’ he said in his judgment.
‘There is a strong prima facie case that the claim for damages…was based principally on lies that he himself had told, with a view to getting more money than the true level of his disability merited.
‘There’s a very strong prima facie case that he knew the losses particularised in the civil claim were founded on falsehoods that sought to grossly exaggerate the level of damages beyond its true scale.’
The case will now proceed to a full hearing at a later date.
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