In an exclusive interview with this paper today, brave survivor Tom (37), said he believes his half-brother Philip, who abused him from the age of six, is ‘more prolific than Larry Murphy’ – and should never walk free.
Rapist Philip Murphy
A man who was raped by his notorious sex offender brother says he believes there are many more victims of him out there.
Philip Murphy (45), who is one of Ireland’s most infamous abusers, was this week jailed for a further 15 years for the rape and sexual abuse of his half-brother Tom Ryan – and two women, when they were just children. And in an exclusive interview with this paper today, brave survivor Tom (37), said he believes his half-brother Philip, who abused him from the age of six, is “more prolific than Larry Murphy” – and should never walk free.
“I think he’s a serious danger to men women and children. I think there’s a lot more victims of Philip who might not have been able to identify him, or that the evidence wasn’t there to get it to court. But I do believe there’s more because you just don’t stop this. You don’t just wake up one morning and decide to do this and then just stop all of a sudden,” he said.
Evil predator Murphy had just gotten out of prison after serving a 10 year sentence for kidnapping a woman when he sexually assaulted another two women in a terrifying incident in February 2016. He then fled to the UK before being extradited back to Ireland and was subsequently jailed for six years for an attack which a court heard he repeatedly told one of the women “you’re going to die tonight.”
And now this Monday, Murphy was jailed to another 15 years after a court heard he engaged in a “protracted campaign of sexual abuse” against his half brother, Mr Ryan, and two young girls he babysat on dates between 1994 and 1998. Tom, who has waived his anonymity so that Murphy can be named, said he and the other two victims were delighted with the sentence – and it is his hope that he never gets released.
“I’m over the moon. I never in my wildest dreams thought we’d get the sentence we got today. It’s an absolute credit to Justice Burns for listening to our statements and acknowledging that he tormented us this long and that he needed to feel the wrath of it.”
Speaking of first disclosing the abuse, which began at age six and lasted several years, Tom said his family’s whole lives were turned upside down. “When I disclosed this way back in 2017, it was horrific. This wasn’t just a bombshell that somebody had abused me, it was going to have ripple effects on the family for a long time.
Tom Ryan (Left) and half-brother Philip Murphy (right) who abused him and others over several years
“It was tough on my poor Mam, she couldn’t get her head around it and she just kept blaming herself. It was very tough to hear Mam trying to take some of his blame and his shame,” he said. Tom added that he believed that his half-brother, who was in October found guilty by a jury of 15 counts of rape and sexual assault, got sexual gratification from abusing him and keeping him under his control. “He made it out to be just a game and kept saying things like ‘this is our little secret and it’s ok.’ They were his favourite phrases,” Tom explained.
“He’s just evil. A pure utter monster and a liar. “I was a child, I wasn’t to know that what was going on was wrong. I wasn’t to know this wasn’t what your brother did.
And he said he found it extremely difficult to come forward about his already notorious predator brother – and thought no one would believe him. “I didn’t think I would be believed and I thought people would say it was my mental health issues or alcoholism. Every time the bag rose you were just putting a weight down on top of it.
“What we’ve realised now is when he wasn’t just doing it to me he was doing it to the girls. It was like he was going around the houses. He was doing it for his own sexual gratification. He was getting a kick out of this and making sure we were in fear all the way through this.”
Murphy’s trial heard harrowing evidence of how he threatened the older of the two female victims that he would abuse her younger sister if she didn’t comply with his demands. And it heard how on one occasion the older sister grabbed a kitchen knife to protect herself from being raped – only to give in to Murphy in an effort to stop him abusing the other girl. She was subsequently taken upstairs and raped – but it did not prevent the abuse of her sister, the court heard. “The threats he made to the girls were more horrific,” Tom said.
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“She (the other victim) went and got a knife and he laughed at her and said that’s OK, if you don’t let me do it I’m just going to do it to your sister. What materialised later is that he was doing this to her anyway for a long time.”
Philip Murphy’s brother, Michael Murphy (48), was also jailed for four years for raping one of the girls. Speaking today, Tom says he fully supports the two women in taking his other half-brother to court too. “To be honest I didn’t believe that Michael had done what he was being accused of until I sat down and listened to the evidence that the girls gave. She (one of the victims) told me everything and I 100 per cent believed her.”
In a message to other victims, potentially of Philip Murphy, Tom added: “Reach out and speak to somebody. Come in off the cliff. Reach out because it’s not your shame, it’s not your guilt. Anyone that has been hurt by Philip reach out to the guards. He can’t hurt you anymore,” he said.
11/6/2008 Philip Murphy at Kilmainham Courthouse, Dublin
Murphy was convicted of sexually assaulting Tom Ryan at Lindisfarne Vale on four occasions between March 1994 and September 1996. He was also convicted of sexually assaulting him at a place in Cork during a brief period when the family moved there.
Murphy was aged 14 when he began abusing the six-year-old Tom in attacks that included anal rape. Mr Justice Paul Burns said that had Murphy been an adult at the time of his offending, he would have given serious consideration to a life sentence. “Even at the young age of 13, he knew it was not just wrong, but gravely and seriously wrong,” the judge said, adding his culpability grew as he aged.
The judge thanked the three complainants in court for their courage in coming forward and giving evidence. “I want to make it clear to each of them that none of this was their fault,” he said. “The blame and shame rest solely on (Murphy).” Mr Justice Paul Burns also sentenced Michael Murphy to four years for the single count of raping one of the sisters abused by Philip Murphy.
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