Bad Actors - Miceál O’Hurley
The people that cases attract when they see money to be made...
The person Natalie has now involved in the case is dangerous, dishonest and reckless. He is a risk to my child and I and I fear for my safety. The content on this page is jaw-dropping and will show Miceál O’Hurley (or Michael O’Hurley-Pitts as he is sometimes known) did the following plus a lot more:
Tried to Make £1000 from me
Lied in the national press and broke a UK High Court order
Assaulted Someone According to a Canadian Court
Fraudulently claimed to be Ukraine’s Honorary Consul in Ireland, causing Ukraine to issue a press statement saying he was not
Isn’t registered with any mediation organisation
Says he is ex-USA Special Forces
Sent me a threatening email
So much information has come to light about him I will add to this page as time allows and build a standalone site about him so others can be forewarned in future. If anything happens to me my friends will complete it. He is a very worrying, violent, dishonest and disreputable person.
Introduction
In January 2024 Natalie walked away from the mediated agreement that would have enabled return to the UK. Had she not, we could have co-parented in the UK since then. She has never explained why she walked away from the agreement.
At every court hearing since I offered mediation. In September 2024 the High Court judge recommended mediation but Natalie refused. Around then she began working with Miceál O’Hurley but she did not tell me or the court and it was on anything but mediation.
Miceál’s involvement is strange and worrying. It is certainly not that of a professional mediator.
ReUnite are the leading mediation experts for international cases and Natalie and I worked with them for months. They are recommended by High Court judges and are said to be excellent.
There will be an extensive page about our mediation and Natalie walking away. It will include her messages of agreement. However this page is about Miceál O’Hurley...
1. He Tried to make £1000 from me
In January 2024 Natalie walked away from the mediated agreement we reached. Since then I tried to restart mediation, as did the judge, but Natalie refused. On 11th August 2024 she seemed back in favour of the agreement, messaging:
‘If you are that interested in coming back send your mediation notes to the court. So they can make an order for alice to live in <town where I lived>.’
At a court hearing on 3rd September 2024 she would not confirm her agreement to the court. The agreement could have allowed me to return to the UK. I have asked Natalie what her objections are to the agreement but she won’t say. Both the judge and I offered more mediation but Natalie refused.
To try and resolve things, on 11th October 2024 I messaged her:
“We mediated an agreement which you walked away from in January 2024. On 11/8/2024 you seemed in agreement again, messaging:
‘If you are that interested in coming back send your mediation notes to the court. So they can make an order for alice to live in <town where I lived>’
Please can you confirm your current position?”
and she replied on 15th October 2024:
“The only mediator I am prepared to use is https://munstermediation.ie/
This is not negotiable. The fee is £1000 paid by yourself as you keep insisting mediation. Please respond by the 14th October.”
I then replied:
“i) why pick an unfamiliar mediator when we have worked with ReUnite before and they are familiar with the case?
ii) ReUnite are experts in international cases so why go elsewhere?
iii) You have been paid for running media stories but want me to pay for mediation. I cannot pay as you have frozen all my assets and taken over £10,000 of income I had in the UK.
iv) ReUnite are free for both of us so why insist on mediation that is free for you but costs me £1000?”
to which she messaged:
“He is a private mediator hence the 1000. If you are desperate to mediate you would try. He is a senior mediator and specialises in child abduction cases. He has a lot of experience far more than reunite.
Like i said non negotiable. Ill give you until 16th 5pm to make decision. The other points you make i will not be commenting on as this is the thread for mediation”
Natalie has frozen my assets but wants me to find £1000 for a mediator I have never heard of. Bear in mind a UK court judgment found she had attempted fraud against me in the past.
I cannot afford £1000. Also, ReUnite are a better option, better value and they already know the case. We already had an agreement but Natalie won’t say what her objections are. As with so much of this case, there seems no sense to it. I did not pay the money as I could not afford it.
2. Assaulted Someone According to a Canadian Court
Please see the Canadian Judgment, which ca be downloaded, from here
https://friendsoffairparentingpodcast.substack.com/p/miceal-ohurley-canadian-assault-judgment
‘Miceal O’Hurley Assault Judgment’ link in the menu at the top of this page.
A Canadian court ruled Miceál assaulted someone and caused aggravated damages.
There are many other cases and evidence I have not had time to compile. I will be adding them in the coming days and making a standalone website about him so people in future can be forewarned about this reckless, dangerous, dishonest person.
3. Lied in the National Press and Broke a UK High Court Order
Miceál Lying in the Daily Mail:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13980175/daughter-taken-father-months-ago-authorities-know.html
The story date is October 20th 2024 and it says: “Mediator Miceal O'Hurley, who has been attempting to persuade Mr Thomas to hand over <baby name>”
This is an outright provable lie by Miceál. He did not contact me until 21st October 2024, the day after the Daily Mail story, and that was to try and arrange a first mediation meeting for a fee Natalie said was £1000.
He had not previously contacted me EVER or tried to persuade me of anything. It is worrying someone of this low calibre is involved and lying in the media.
In the article Miceál says he has been working on the case since September, when he was also on Radio Ulster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9iLIShEPY8
I am told he libellously refers to me as having committed a crime. This is untrue. The case is civil.
Mediators are supposed to be impartial and involve both parties. If he is a professional mediator why did he not contact me in September to mediate instead of spending a month working with Natalie pursuing an aggressive line? It is odd as I had been asking Natalie to mediate so you would expect a mediator to start there not do media. The Daily Mail pay for stories so maybe that drove things. Either way, Miceál’s behaviour is not that of a professional mediator.
Also, the media stories Miceál and Natalie have done break High Court orders so he isn’t reputable either. To protect children, court usually prohibits media stories. In this case the court order restricted coverage to narrow confines. Miceál broke these and I will inform the court at the next hearing on 7th November 2024.
4. Fraudulently Claimed To Be Ukraine’s Honorary Consul in Ireland, Causing Ukraine To Issue a Press Statement Saying He Was Not
Source: https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40824297.html
This is an unbelievable story. Miceál claimed he was Ukraine’s Honorary Consul in Ireland. The newspaper says, and I recommend reading the whole story using the above link:
“Youghal-based Miceál O’Hurley, insists he “resigned” from the role and has launched an extraordinary attack on the department of foreign affairs (DFA) for not formally approving his nomination by signing an exequatur.
The Ukrainian embassy confirmed that Mr O’Hurley was “considered for the role” but the Irish Examiner has established that his candidacy was recalled by the embassy last Friday.
The embassy declined to comment further on why.”
The story explains Miceál was using a now-defunct website to instruct people on how to donate to charities and claimed of his actions: “When a house is on fire, one does not wait for the door to be answered - they enter and save lives.”
Ukraine authorities were not impressed and confirmed Miceál never held a role with them.
So, Miceál treads over authority, lies and takes matters into his own hands. Few would do that and I am frightened for the safety of my child and I. I will raise Miceál with the UK High Court this week and I must ask him publicly now: “Miceál and any of your associates - stay away from my child and I.”
5. Isn’t registered with the Family Mediation Council
UK mediators are usually members of the Family Mediation Council whose full register is here: https://www.familymediationcouncil.org.uk/fmc-full-register but Miceál O’Hurley is not listed. The ReUnite mediators Natalie and I worked with before are listed. Miceál’s website shows no membership or accreditation with any mediation organisation in any country.
6. Says he is ex-USA Special Forces
Source: https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/arid-40954418.html
I have long told the court I feel the safety of my child and I is at risk. Natalie mediated a return agreement but walked away from it in January 2024. Now, rather than sign the agreement or mediate further with credible mediator’s recommended by the court she is using this guy. Who knows what they plan? Please read his threatening email below.
I am not doubting Miceál is ex-Special Forces but, either way, he is not a credible mediator and he could be a risk to my child and I.
And why did Natalie hire him when regulated mediators are available?
7. Sent Me a Threatening Email
On 21st October 2024 I received this threatening email from Miceál O’Hurley:
On Mon, 21 Oct 2024, 10:02 Munster Mediation, <munstermediation@gmail.com> wrote:
“Dear Philip and Natalie,
Thank you for your enquiry about mediation.
I am available to discuss mediation and how it may be of assistance to you. Kindly let me know when might be convenient.
I have some knowledge of this matter from reviewing the record and indicating to the Foreign Office instruments which could resolve it very quickly. I would observe that those measures, which I understand to be in-process, will have catastrophic consequences.
I would indicate my belief that there remains a small window in which this could be resolved amicably and preserve both of your rights to parent your child. However, if this does not resolve quite quickly it would be my professional opinion that penal servitude and several other onerous and invasive penalties will apply. There is still time to return this to a "normal" situation but unless it resolves immediately there will only be life- changing and injurious consequences from which there is no return.
I am available for a session on Wednesday, 23 October 2024 at 1600hrs (London Time) by Zoom.
Regards,
Miceal O'Hurley”
So, at this point Miceál O’Hurley:
Tried to Make £1000 from me
Lied in the national press and broke a UK High Court order
Assaulted Someone According to a Canadian Court
Fraudulently claimed to be Ukraine’s Honorary Consul in Ireland, causing Ukraine to
issue a press statement saying he was not
Isn’t registered with any mediation organisation
Says he is ex-USA Special Forces
Sent me a threatening email
For clarity, I did not publish this web page until 5th November 2024, long after Miceál’s threatening email. Mediators are supposed to be professional, impartial, unthreatening and honest. Miceál is none of these.
A few other points
Nobody I know in the family law arena has heard of Miceál.
He’s not in the correct jurisdiction.
His website munstermediation.ie shows his email address as munstermediation@gmail.com Not many professionals operate from a gmail account.
His website refers to ‘Our highly trained, educated and experienced mediators’ but he seems to be a one man band with a gmail account.
There is no office address on his website
The notary page on his website https://munstermediation.ie/notarial-services/ says he is licensed as Michael Francis O’Hurley-Pitts in Florida (licence number 1616165) to provide limited notary services. The registration can be seen at https://notaries.dos.state.fl.us/ NotIdSearch.asp?ID=1616165 where the address is listed as 1317 Edgewater Drive, Orlando, FL 3280 (photo below). Google Earth shows it as mailing address company PhysicalAddress.com. Here is proof on their website https://physicaladdress.com/knowledge-base/orlando-florida/
Not only does Miceál O’Hurley (or Michael Francis O’Hurley-Pitts), as he sometimes calls himself, not list this address on his website he doesn’t list a business address on his website.
Note: I do not know why he uses two names. Most of us do not. Maybe he is trying to hide things like his assault case in Canada.
• Also, his website says his areas of work are:
So just about anything except plumbing and car maintenance. He is not a specialist and seems to be a ‘jack of all trades’ who will turn his hand to anything for cash. Proper mediators tend to do only mediation or law and mediation.
He works under two names: Miceál O’Hurley and Michael Francis O’Hurley-Pitts.
He wrote a book with no description and only a single 1 star book review - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Passionate-Steward-Recovering-Stewardship-Fundraising/dp/0973137800
There is nothing wrong with that but he seems to flit around trying to latch onto something.
• He also calls himself a doctor and a ‘defense and security expert’ https://diplomacyireland.eu/dr-miceal-ohurley-discusses-russias-invasion-of-ukrainian- interior-with-corks-redfm/
• The media stories Miceál and Natalie have done break High Court orders so he isn’t reputable.
• I could find no reviews of his mediation work anywhere. Why not?
Conclusion
Miceál lying in the media and his threatening email show he is not credible to mediate anybody’s case. Then there is everything else on this page. How does he look to you?
I wrote to Natalie asking us to go back to the leading experts, ReUnite, who are professional and reputable.
Possibly Miceál was attracted to the case by Natalie’s previous publicity. The publicity order has strict limits and both Natalie and Miceál have broken them and so have the newspapers.
Risk to children and attracting oddballs or dangerous people are two reasons why publicity is prohibited or strictly limited in child cases. I am very worried Natalie is using someone like Miceál instead of reputable experts like ReUnite.
There is more strange information about Miceál. I will publish when time allows. I had to hastily make this website to put the truth out there in the hope it protects my child and I from any lunatic who may take things into their own hands having heard 10% of the story in a newspaper.
At this point Miceál has been on BBC Ulster and lied in the Daily Mail. Those media outlets haven’t done basic due diligence checks on him that anyone with Google could do in 5 minutes. They have also broken the court orders themselves.
Miceál seems to have no qualifications in mediation, no office address on his website, just a phone and a gmail account.
For weeks my X profile has made clear I am fearful for the safety of me and my daughter. I have also written to the court about this.
We had a mediated agreement Natalie walked away from in January 2024 (please see the Summary page). It was a good agreement that would have allowed us to return to the UK. Natalie has not explained why she backed out of our agreement. I am now afraid what Miceál and Natalie will do. Certainly, Miceál should not be working as a mediator on anyone’s case.
Some unsavoury people have latched onto the case perhaps attracted by publicity and money. It is worrying Natalie is working with someone like Miceál when we had previously worked well with the leading reputable experts in the field, ReUnite, who judges recommend.
I have repeatedly asked Natalie why she walked away from the mediated agreement we had in January 2024. I have asked if we can call ReUnite again to work with them. I repeat it again now.
We had a good mediated agreement and I am frightened a hostile outcome is being pursued instead. Many international cases involve parents who do not wish resolution or amicable outcome but this is not one. I have bent over backwards to find a safe resolution and Natalie and we reached a agreement. She walked away from it and has not explained why. Actions she is planning now could very well be putting our child and I at risk.
Given the 5 years of abuse in the UK (please see Court Judgments) and medical context (please see Psychologist, Psychiatrist and Her Cognitive Problems) I think most people would be scared. I have no grudge against Natalie, I just want safe parenting. That is all I have ever sought. Her aggression frightens me. I again ask her publicly to consider mediation with ReUnite again.