John Bishop has been awarded a judgement close to £1million after his former Irish business partner defrauded him.
The comedian, 57, sued tech entrepreneur Brendan Morrissey and Maltese-registered BAK Holdings Limited after accusing them of stealing over £865,000 from his company Hears, which was launched to assist people with hearing problems.
He claimed the software firm, which he set up with son Joseph and includes U2 drummer Larry Mullen as a shareholder, paid BAK more than €1million for software development services.
Subsequent investigations suggested the work should cost no more than £200,000 completed, the court heard.
At the time of the court hearing the app had not been completed.
Mr Bishop settled the case last June, sparking a court order for Mr Morrissey and BAK to pay him £500,000 plus £216,000 in legal costs.
John Bishop has been awarded a judgement close to £1m after his former Irish business partner defrauded him
Bishop is pictured with his son Joe, who is partially deaf, on the ITV documentary ‘John and Joe Bishop: Life after deaf’
However a default on the payment structure triggered a clause that BAK’s shares in Hears would be relinquished and Mr Bishop should apply for a £934,000 payout from Mr Morrissey and his company.
Mr Bishop said: “I am glad we have received this judgement, but I am disappointed that we had to go down this route.
“We had a great business opportunity that would have helped a lot of people and we had strong investors behind us, but sadly I trusted someone who was not what he appeared.
“I hope this judgement will see some justice and prevent others having to go through this in the future.”
Mr Bishop’s son Joseph came up with the idea for the app in 2019 which allows people to take a hearing test on their smartphone, facilitating the purchase of bespoke hearing aids.
Joseph, 29, is partially deaf and starred alongside his famous father in an ITV documentary about his loss of hearing in 2022, which he first experienced at the age of 15.
In an affidavit heard in court, Mr Bishop told how the board removed Mr Morrissey’s wife Karen as company secretary earlier this year and cancelled a bank mandate after a series of payments were made to BAK.
They also removed him as director, removing their access to a company bank account to prevent them taking more unauthorised payments.
Bishop is pictured here with his wife Melanie. Their son Joe helps his father run their firm to help people with hearing problems
The Bishops, who were introduced to Mr Morrissey by a mutual friend and had the original idea, set up the company alongside the Irishman who they felt could help build the firm by becoming a partner.
Mr Bishop said: “He held himself out to be greatly interested in the idea of our app and in bringing it to fruition.”
Mr Bishop alleged a breakdown of the relationship with Mr Morrissey occurred towards the end of 2021 after he sought and was refused details regarding delays in the project and costs.
In February 2022, he said he discovered a £500,000 payment, the precise value of his own investment, had been made to BAK without the knowledge or approval of him or other directors two years earlier.
Mr Bishop claimed Mr and Mrs Morrissey were the only people with access to the company’s bank account at the time.
BAK and Mr Morrissey denied the allegations and claimed BAK provided £1.4million in services to Hears.