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A JUDGE yesterday slammed Mike Ashley’s bizarre bid to put Dave King in jail – and his £3 “F*** King” woolly hats.

Mr Justice Peter Smith rejected the billionaire’s demand to have the Rangers chairman locked up for allegedly breaking a gagging order about talks between the club and Sports Direct.

And he asked Ashley’s QC: “Is your client interested in having a relationship with Mr King or does he just want to grind him into the dust?

“I’ve seen the bobble hats – how does that advance things ? They say ‘F*** King’ and he is selling them cheap.

“Do you expect Mr King to sit down and have a sensible relationship with him?”

The hats appeared on Sports Direct’s website in November. Bosses did not explain what the slogan meant.

King said after the hearing that the judge had torn Ashley apart.

King could still be found in contempt of court and penalised. That decision will be made later.

(Image: Stefan Rousseau/PA)

But at the High Court in London, Mr Justice Smith made it clear what he thought of Ashley’s attempt to have him locked up.

He said he was “staggered” by it, and then threw it out without even hearing from King’s legal team.

The judge told Ashley’s QC that threatening someone with contempt of court and prison was “not to be used as an extra power in your locker for commercial negotiations”.

Ashley made his demand after King told Jim White of Sky Sports in July that he had met Sports Direct bosses and had a “good discussion” about commercial deals between Rangers and the company.

The court heard that Ashley loaned the club money when it was in difficulty. King’s legal team said a loan had been repaid in full yesterday.

It’s claimed that by giving the interview, King broke a court injunction obtained by Sports Direct which banned him from talking about the negotiations.

But Mr Justice Smith told Ashley’s counsel David Quest QC: “I’m staggered that your client thinks it’s so serious that it applies to put Mr King in prison.

“This is one very large stick you wish to put over Mr King.”

Mr Quest replied: “We say that is the only way of ensuring he is compliant.”

The judge asked the QC what was so damaging about the interview “that Mr King has to go potentially to Pentonville [prison] for a period of time?”

(Image: REUTERS)

Mr Quest replied that Sports Direct did not want reports about the talks to appear in the media.

He said: “The press are fully entitled to report it, and one can understand, with football being more important than life and death.

“That’s why Sports Direct is entitled to say, ‘If you want us to continue discussions, we want that to be on the basis that nobody talks to the press about it.’”

Mr Quest said of King: “He asked if he could make comment on the meeting and we said he couldn’t, and he goes and gives an interview and he does it anyway.

“The more comment there is by Mr King and by Rangers, the more this issue remains in the public eye and gets reported on.

“That’s what we are trying to avoid.”

Mr Quest said King was fully aware of the terms of the injunction when he gave the interview to White.

But the judge repeatedly asked what King had said that made Ashley so upset. He told Mr Quest: “I’m trying desperately to find out what is so damaging about King referring to the meeting.

“Three out of four of your complaints are just Mr King discussing existence of meetings.”

In a statement to the court, King said he could not remember giving White the quotes, and added that he “didn’t think he had his Rangers hat on” at the time.

Mr Quest said the court was entitled to “draw inferences” from King saying he couldn’t remember – and that those inferences could be drawn “to a criminal standard”.

But the judge, who strongly criticised Ashley’s team for not putting King in the witness box, retorted: “I’m not going to send a person to prison on inferences when you choose not to have him cross-examined.”

Mr Justice Smith said Ashley’s decision not to have King give evidence meant he couldn’t ask him if the account of his interview with White was accurate.

During exchanges with the judge, Mr Quest confirmed that the gagging order was a “one-way agreement”. It bans King from discussing the talks, but leaves Ashley free to say whatever he likes.

(Image: Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Mr Quest said: “That’s what Rangers signed up to.”

Mr Justice Smith spent more than two hours debating with Mr Quest about the merits of Ashley’s application to have King jailed.

Then he turned to King’s barrister, William McCormick QC, and told him he didn’t need to argue his case.

He said: “I’m going to dismiss the application for reasons I will give later.”

Mr Justice Smith noted that the legal row had cost the two sides more than £400,000 so far.

And he said: “I do wonder what is the point of all this. £400,000 would get you a full-back in the Scottish second division.”

The judge said he was minded to continue the gagging order on King, but added that it “needs tidying up”.

He said of King: “He can discuss things that are already established and in the public domain.”

Ashley was not in court. King sat at the back, listening to the exchanges.

Mr Justice Smith warned him he still faced a trial for contempt of court, and added: “Mr King should not assume he has been completely vindicated. It’s going to be a close-run thing.”

He advised King not to talk to the press, saying: “I think Mr King should say absolutely nothing, except how happy he is not to go to prison and that Mr Justice Peter Smith is a fair-minded judge.”

King said outside court that he wasn’t surprised by the judge’s decision – and described it as “a humiliating defeat for Mike Ashley”.

He added: “I’ve never witnessed a strong judge really, virtually tearing someone apart the way he did today.

“I came a long way for this, and I’m glad it was an experienced senior judge who knew what the matters were.

“It’s something I expected and I’m absolutely delighted.”

King declined to comment on the Sports Direct loan repayment, believed to be for £5million.

Asked about his relationship with Ashley, he said: “It’s the same as it was, the stresses and strains that everyone is aware of.”