• Melvyn Levi is suing the Leeds chairman
• Claims attacks have left his wife living in fear
A former Leeds United director told a court on Monday that the club's owner, Ken Bates, had made him and his wife ill by conducting a campaign of harassment against him in the matchday programme and via the club-owned Yorkshire Radio station. Melvyn Levi, one of five Leeds-based businessmen who sold the club to unnamed investors represented by Bates in 2005, is suing the Leeds chairman for alleged harassment, claiming he suffered psychologically‑related personal injury as a result.
Giving evidence at Leeds county court with Bates and the club's chief executive, Shaun Harvey, in attendance, Levi said he had brought the action to prevent intimidation and attacks which had left his wife "living in fear". He emphasised an article in Bates's chairman's notes in the Leeds United match programme, which referred to Levi and a business associate as "a pair of money-grabbing spivs".
The action was brought after Yorkshire Radio, owned by Leeds, which carries commentary of the club's matches, broadcast an appeal for fans to contact the station if they had seen Levi, because he was wanted so that a writ could be served on him.
After taking over Leeds, Bates conducted a long-running legal dispute with Robert Weston, a business associate of Levi's, including a court action in Jersey which Leeds won after Weston failed to file a document within the specified time. In 2009 Levi won a high court libel action against Bates, following articles Bates had written about Levi in the Leeds United programme which the judge, Sir Charles Gray, described as "riddled with material inaccuracies".
Bates had written in the match programme that Levi was "a shyster", trying to "blackmail" the club, when in fact, Gray found, Bates had engineered a share reorganisation which had enabled him not to repay more than £1.4m which Levi and Weston had personally loaned to Leeds. Gray also ruled that it was "improper" of Bates to use Levi's own legal advice, which Bates had seen, and write about it in the programme.
Levi is claiming damages for harassment and personal injury and seeking an injunction to prevent further harassment. Bates is defending the action. Read More
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