Mr Justice Flaux’s ruling is a must-read for fans of celeb gossip
An explosive judgment involving former 90s heartthrob Peter Andre has lifted the lid on just how unpleasant the life of C-list celebrities can be.
The lengthy ruling — that has just appeared on legal database Bailii — describes in detail the murky world of reality TV and its stars.
The case came about because of a dispute between a production company and ITV. Mr Justice Flaux, sitting in the High Court, had to determine whether Mr H TV productions was entitled to damages after its contract was terminated by the TV channel. Mr H TV boss Neville Hendricks claimed damages consisting of lost profits estimated at £6m-£7m and £549,060 under an outstanding invoice.
Hendricks’ company produced singer-turned-reality TV star Andre’s ‘The Next Chapter’ series and ‘Here To Help’, along with reality projects for singer Kerry Katona. Hendricks worked closely with both singers’ manager, Claire Powell, who he previously had a relationship with, sharing a son. Amid false rumours of an affair between Katona and Hendricks, relationships between all parties began to break down.
The fiery judgment charts some desperate behaviour. For example, at one point in the bust-up Hendricks set up a Twitter account that began to tweet “pretty unpleasant” comments about Andre and Powell’s private lives.
As a result of this, Andre’s representatives wrote to Hendricks’ lawyers stating that he wanted nothing more to do with him or his production company. With ITV’s legal team getting wind of the letter, Justice Flaux believed it was this that acted as the catalyst for Hendricks being given the axe.
The judgment graphically describes how Hendricks reacted to the news of his contract termination, blaming his ex-partner Powell and Andre for putting pressure on ITV. The High Court judgment quotes evidence given by Hendricks’ builder which Legal Cheek would have been interested to hear read out in open court. Paragraph 119 states:
‘The fucking bitch has taken Pete up to ITV behind my back’ and that he wanted to be ‘standing over Claire Powell with my foot on her back and a flag of triumph stuck up her cunt and pull it out of her mouth.
Elsewhere in the judgment, Justice Flaux pulls no punches when he describes Andre — famed for his 90s hit ‘Mysterious Girl’ and recent Strictly Come Dancing role — as an “extremely unsatisfactory witness.”
Justice Flaux continues his devastating critique, thundering:
I suspect that Mr Andre was driven to some of the extremes he exhibited in his evidence out of loyalty to Ms Powell, but that did not make his evidence any more impressive or credible.
Partly as a result of Andre’s poor performance in court — alongside a number of other contributing factors — Justice Flaux ruled that it was ITV who was in breach of contract and not Hendricks.
Speaking to the Mail Online today, Andre said:
I am extremely disappointed that Mr Justice Flaux didn’t accept some of my evidence but all I can say is that I was telling the truth and would never have misled the court in this important matter.