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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| Bates told to pay libel damages | Bates told to pay libel damages |
| (41 minutes later) | |
| Leeds United chairman Ken Bates has been ordered to pay £50,000 libel damages to a former club director who alleged he had been "persecuted". | Leeds United chairman Ken Bates has been ordered to pay £50,000 libel damages to a former club director who alleged he had been "persecuted". |
| Businessman Melvyn Levi, 65, brought an action at London's High Court over a letter and three articles written in club programmes. | |
| Mr Levi said he had been accused of trying to blackmail the club and of being unscrupulous and dishonourable. | Mr Levi said he had been accused of trying to blackmail the club and of being unscrupulous and dishonourable. |
| Mr Bates, 78, had denied libel, pleading fair comment. | Mr Bates, 78, had denied libel, pleading fair comment. |
| Judge Sir Charles Gray said the libel action arose out of events surrounding the acquisition of Leeds United by a consortium headed by Mr Bates in 2005. | |
| Mr Levi claimed the material in the club programmes contained "grave and offensive" libels which "seriously injured" his reputation. | |
| Mr Levi said he was accused of being a "shyster" who had tried to blackmail the club over money. | |
| The judge ruled that Mr Bates had failed in his defences of justification and fair comment. |