Current ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ star Peter Andre has been on the receiving end of a severe tongue-lashing by a High Court judge, who branded him as “an extremely unsatisfactory witness” and then accused him of “complete fabrication”.

The case in question concerns a bitter contract dispute involving Andre and Neville Hendricks, a reality TV show producer he worked with on a number of occasions. As a result of the judgment, ITV2 must pay damages, expected to run into millions of pounds, to Mr Hendricks’ TV company ‘Mr H TV Ltd.’.

Peter AndrePeter Andre with his new wife Emily MacDonagh

Summing up, Mr Justice Flaux spoke in harsh terms about the 42 year old former pop star’s testimony that he felt physically threatened by Hendricks’ behaviour, which included “scurrilous and vitriolic” tweets directed at his close friend and manager Claire Powell, while their professional relationship was deteriorating in rancorous fashion. Hendricks worked with Powell and her company CAN Associates on programmes such as ‘Peter Andre: The Next Chapter’ and shows featuring Kerry Katona.

The judge ruled that some of Andre’s evidence was “not truthful” and that his allegations of death threats by Hendricks to be a “complete fabrication”.

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In short, Hendricks and Powell were in a relationship together but broke up in 2011. At around the same time, Powell’s professional relationship with former Atomic Kitten star Katona came to an end, and rumour soon spread that Hendricks and Katona were in a relationship.

Suspecting that Powell (or people connected with her) might be behind the rumour, Katona leant on her former PR guru Max Clifford, described by the judge as someone “before his recent disgrace, was the supremo of celebrity management and he ensured that the rumour ceased.”

Hendricks then set up a Twitter account where he sent tweets about Powell and Andre’s private lives, and it is these social media messages Andre was testifying about. Efforts to resolve the dispute between them failed, and Andre’s solicitors sent a letter to Hendricks’ company saying he “wanted no further dealings whatsoever.”

When it came to the judgment, though Hendricks himself admitted to being “a volatile character and often foul-mouthed”, the judge said: “I was simply not prepared to accept that he was capable of the level of violence ascribed to him by Mr Andre and Ms Powell.” It’s at this point that the contract in question effectively became terminated.

Speaking after the ruling, the ‘Strictly’ contestant reacted by saying: “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.”

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