Jailed top cop was given temporary time out before Christmas to visit family member
The Sunday World understands Murphy was given a 24-hour period of temporary release from the Wicklow open prison early prior to Christmas to visit with a family member.
The 64-year-old returned to the prison as scheduled but it’s claimed a report was subsequently made to authorities that he had been seen socialising at a pub in north Co Dublin.
Under the terms on which temporary release is granted, prisoners are prohibited from consuming alcohol or attending at licensed premises.
Two days after his return to the lock-up, Murphy was informed he was being returned to the Midlands Prison.
Shelton Abbey open prison
He has not been subjected to P19 disciplinary proceedings following his return to the prison.
The former top cop is more than halfway through his six-and-a-half-year sentence after pleading guilty to the possession of €260,000 worth of cannabis in court in 2022.
He had only been moved to the open centre from the Midlands Prison in September and is due for release in 2026.
The move to the open prison in Wicklow would have allowed Murphy to work outside in the community if he was deemed suitable.
At Shelton Abbey, he joined a number of other high-profile prisoners who are working towards their eventual release.
These include gangland inmates such as Brian Meehan, the only member of the Gilligan gang convicted over the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin in 1997. Another is Limerick gangster Christopher ‘Smokey’ Costello, serving life for the murder of rival gang boss Kieran Keane in 2003, who was transferred there last May.
Murphy’s transfer to the open prison came despite his previous arrest at the Midlands Prison by gardai investigating suspected links between officers and the Hutch Organised Crime Gang.
In January 2023, he was taken from his cell to a Dublin garda station to face questioning by officers with the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
Drain
In October 2022, it was heard during Murphy’s sentencing hearing that he owed €855,000 due to poor business decisions made in the 10 years after he retired from the force.
Murphy was in debt
Counsel said that Murphy had “whatever the opposite of the Midas touch is” and that any investments he made “went down the drain”.
One of his bad decisions was a €300,000 investment in taxi licences which he lost when the industry was deregulated.
It was added that he was consuming large amounts of booze every day “for as long as anyone could remember” and was a functioning alcoholic.
He said his drinking had “clouded his judgement and brought him to this sorry pass”.
The trial judge said that Murphy was holding the drugs for some type of financial reward in order to alleviate his debts but that “he should have known better”. A garda witness gave evidence of how they searched his home in Clontarf on September 29, 2021.
During the search they found eight bags of cannabis herb in a bag in the walk-in wardrobe of an upstairs bedroom.
Seven vacuum packed bags of cannabis were found hidden in a coal bunker at the back of the house and another five bags of cannabis were found in Murphy’s car.
Inmate ‘Smokey’ Costello
Inmate Brian Meehan
The court heard that CCTV footage was harvested from an industrial estate in Co Meath showing Murphy collecting the bags of cannabis and putting them into his car.
Murphy worked at major Dublin garda stations including the Bridewell, Pearse Street, and the traffic bureau.
Celebrities attended his retirement party, held at the Aviva Stadium in 2010 when he was 50.
A statement from the Irish Prison Service said: “The Irish Prison Service does not comment on individual prisoner cases.”
