Elusive star witness at last gives evidence in private

The Flood tribunal's most elusive witness arrived here shortly after 2.30 p.m. yesterday, his immense, aged frame crammed into the front-seat of a chauffeur-driven Mercedes. Only slightly bowed by his 82 years, Mr Joseph Murphy snr slowly walked the 10 yards to the conference centre where his evidence will be heard in private.

A dark, single-breasted suit, the kind you often see on elderly county councillors, hung loosely from his shoulders. He looked uncertainly at the group of photographers gathered by the door, his eyes struggling to focus. His skin had a grey pallor, but he walked without the aid of a stick.

The former labourer, who built one of Britain's biggest building empires, wore a white shirt, a mundane, dark tie, and black slipon shoes for his first reluctant appearance in the limelight. He stepped without difficulty from the front seat of the car, watched by journalists, lawyers and tribunal staff.

The elderly millionaire's brief appearance left the waiting press and lawyers no wiser as to his mental and physical health, which has been at the centre of the past week's legal battles over the taking of his evidence.

Mr Murphy, said by his doctors to have an "irrational" fear of media publicity, had just won the right to have his evidence heard in private.

Before lunch, Mr Justice Flood had rejected media arguments that the hearing should be in public. To require Mr Murphy to undergo a risk to his life by having the media present was a deprivation of his rights, the chairman ruled.

Mr Murphy said nothing on his arrival yesterday and was asked no questions, as part of a deal agreed between waiting journalists and his lawyers beforehand. The photographers got their snap, and Mr Murphy was allowed enter the centre unmolested.

He had arrived at Les Cotils Christian centre in St Peter Port accompanied by his son, Mr Joseph Murphy jnr. The impression left was of a man crumpled by age, but someone who must have been immensely strong in his prime.

Mr Murphy, who suffers from arthritis, heart problems and diabetes, disappeared into the conference room. After several hours, the hearing was adjourned and Mr Murphy returns to the witness-box this morning. His evidence, in the form of a transcript, will not emerge for some weeks, back in Dublin.