He sued Ms O’Doherty, a former journalist with the Irish Independent, over the postings on Twitter (X), Facebook and her own internet video broadcast portal.

Ms O'Doherty had been given an opportunity to turn up before another judge who dealt with this case and had not done so, he said.

Ronan Lupton SC, for Mr Guerin who is also a member of Fingal Council, said the man who made the threat had been in court along with a number of other people who also attended some of the defamation case.

Mr Justice Tony O'Connor also said he would also consider an application from Mr Guerin's lawyers for the re-trial of his original defamation case

The case will now go into the next session of civil jury cases in February for a retrial

The posts and video did not name which brother, but it was in fact Martin Guerin (73) who pleaded guilty in 2019 to possession of child pornography, and later received a suspended prison sentence.

Jimmy Guerin, a brother of murdered journalist Veronica Guerin, claims Gemma O'Doherty defamed him in social media posts and a website video