The High Court has ordered a racing tipster to immediately remove an allegedly defamatory article he posted on the Substack online platform about a businessman involved in the same industry.
Judge Brian Cregan made the order against tipster Gearóid Norris, of Harold Place, Mallow, Co Cork, over an article in which he alleged that businessman Robert Heneghan threatened to put a bullet in his head.
Heneghan, who runs Pro Sports Advice Ltd, which is involved in the provision of tips for the horse-racing industry, said there was no such phone call and he never made any such threats.
In the Substack article Norris alleged he had a recording of the alleged 53-second phone call in which he said the threat was made, but he has refused to provide a copy of it to Heneghan’s lawyers, who said it did not exist.
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The case first came before the court on Wednesday, when the judge granted short service of the proceedings on Norris.
When the case returned on Friday, the judge was told the papers had been served on him and he was advised he needed to be present in court on Friday.
However, he did not appear and following an application by Tom Murphy, for Heneghan, the judge granted a number of orders, including that the Substack article be removed by 5pm on Friday.
He also ordered that Norris be restrained from publishing any further material which repeats the allegation of threat to put a bullet in his head.
He further ordered that Norris furnish to the Heneghan side all and any recordings he possesses and will seek to rely on in relation to the Substack article.
He said he expected Norris to be in court next Friday when the case is due back.
Heneghan had initially brought proceedings last month against Norris, over what he says were a large number of allegedly defamatory publications since March 2025 on X, Substack, TikTok and other platforms.
Despite a cease-and-desist solicitor’s letter prior to the initiation of the proceedings, the defendant continued to post material about Heneghan and his business.
More recently, however, he published on the Substack online platform an article in which he alleged Heneghan had phoned Norris and threatened to kill him by shooting him in the head as well as threatening his family. This was completely false and deeply damaging to him personally and professionally, Heneghan said.
He said he believed this “entirely false” article was published in an attempt to put pressure on him to relent on his decision to institute legal proceedings against Norris for the allegedly defamatory material previously posted online about him.
