Court hears of secret tape to 'sink' Ron Medich Ron Medich. THE day before conman Michael McGurk was gunned down he told an associate he planned to use a secretly-recorded audio tape to "blow the whistle" on millionaire Ron Medich. Giving evidence remotely from the US at Central Local Court yesterday, payday lender Paul Mathieson says he spoke to the Mosman father of four on the phone on September 2, 2009. Mr Mathieson said McGurk told him he was "going to expose Medich the next day and use the tape" containing embarrassing details of Medich's life and business activities by leaking it to the media. McGurk was killed by a single gunshot to the back of his head as he parked his car outside his home on September 3. The fatal shot was allegedly fired by a 19-year-old hitman allegedly paid with cash from Medich, who has been accused of being the "mastermind" of the murder plot. The secret tape was allegedly made seven months earlier at a meeting between Medich and McGurk at his city office after the pair fell out over soured property deals. Mr Mathieson told the court that McGurk had told him he planned to meet with Medich and "tape his conversation in order to bring him down." Mr Mathieson has given a statement to police saying Medich told him: "I'm going to fix him," referring to McGurk, and "Don't worry, he won't be a problem for much longer." Mr Mathieson said Medich made the comments during a trip they both made to New Zealand in the months leading up to the killing. He said he had feared for his life, believing that since about 2007 that Medich wanted him dead after Medich "turned against" him and demanded he pay him $11.5 million in an "extortion" attempt. Mr Mathieson, who hails from Warrnambool in Victoria, said he felt unable to return to live and work in Australia because he is still "in fear of my life from Mr Medich." He was forced to hire security guards to protect himself, he said. Mr Mathieson said Medich was a "criminal" and had hired McGurk as a "hired thug" to travel to Hawaii in May 2008 to threaten him to pay the $11.5 million. He was also menaced by Medich's henchman Lucky Gattellari, he said. Mathieson said he originally pretended to agree to pay some of the money, to "buy time" in the hope that "these criminals would get out of my life." Mathieson denied suggestions by Medich's barrister Winston Terracini SC that his reluctance to return to Australia was because he "would be sued left, right and centre" by creditors to whom he owed money.