Cork racing tipster apologises for false claim that businessman threatened to kill him

Gearóid Norris had claimed Robert Heneghan had phoned him and allegedly threatened to kill him by shooting him in the head

The defendant has also undertaken not to publish any further material online in relation to Robert Heneghan or his company Pro Sports Advice Ltd which is involved in the provision of tips for the horseracing industry. File picture: INPHO/Dan Sheridan

A Cork racing tipster has apologised in the High Court for falsely claiming his life was threatened by a businessman in the same industry.

Gearóid Norris, of Harold Place, Mallow, Co Cork, has also undertaken not to publish any further material online in relation to Robert Heneghan or his company Pro Sports Advice Ltd which is involved in the provision of tips for the horseracing industry.

As a result, the case was struck out.

Mr Heneghan had sued over a number of defamatory publications by Mr Norris about the businessman since March 2025 on X, Substack, Tik Tok and other platforms.

Last month, Mr Heneghan brought further injunction proceedings seeking the removal of another article Mr Norris had published on Substack.

In the article, Mr Norris claimed Mr Heneghan had phoned him and allegedly threatened to kill him by shooting him in the head as well as allegedly threatening his family. Mr Norris claimed he had a recording of the conversation.

The claim was completely false and there was no such phone conversation, Mr Heneghan said.

He believed it was published in an "attempt to pressurise me to relent on my decision to institute legal proceedings against him for all the defamatory material he had previously posted online about me".

The court ordered the immediate removal of the article and also that Mr Norris furnish a copy of the alleged phone call recording. A solicitor for Mr Norris subsequently told the court there was no such recording.

When the case returned to court on Friday, Tom Murphy BL, for Mr Heneghan, said the proceedings had been resolved and Mr Norris was giving written undertakings to the court not to publish any further material referring directly or indirectly to Mr Heneghan, not to repeat any of it and to remove any material still on online platforms.

Brian O'Sullivan BL, for Mr Norris, read out an apology in which he stated that the Substack article in which Norris claimed he received a 53-second phone call in which Mr Heneghan allegedly threatened to kill him and a member of his family was not true.

Mr Norris confirmed that Mr Heneghan did not make any threat and consequently he wished to apologise to him. Mr Justice Brian Cregan noted the undertakings and struck out the proceedings.