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A HIGH Court judge threw out a 'staggering' bid to send Rangers boss Dave King to prison for breaching a gagging order about the club's dealings with sponsor Sports Direct.

King was accused of breaking the order in an interview with Sky's Jim White in June, when he confirmed he had met with Sports Direct and had a 'good' discussion about their sponsorship deals.

Sports Direct tycoon Mike Ashley, locked in a bitter legal feud over control of Rangers, had applied for King to be jailed for Contempt of Court for his comments.

But Mr Justice Peter Smith threw out the application for jailing King without hearing from King's lawyers, after taking a dim view of Ashley's decision to pursue the committal to prison bid.

'I'm staggered that your client thinks its so serious that it applies to put Mr King in prison', said the judge to Ashley's representatives.

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

David Quest QC, for Sports Direct, replied: 'We say that the only way of ensuring he is compliant.'

He claimed the admissions in the interview caused an increase in press comment around the club, something they were trying to avoid.

'What is so damaging that Mr King has to go potentially to Pentonville for a period of time?', asked the judge.

Mr Quest 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.

'We want to make sure the order we obtained and relied upon Mr King on is in place.

'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 it gets reported on - that's what we are trying to avoid.'

During a bruising morning in court, the judge questioned Mr Quest repeatedly about the damage that King's comments had done.

He pointed out offensive bobbly hats saying 'F*** King' have been sold for £3 by Sports Direct, and asked: '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?'

King, in his statement to the court, said he could not remember if he said the quotes attributed to him, but added that he 'didn't think he had his Rangers hat on'.

The 60-year-old South Africa-based businessman is accused of knowing the terms of the injunction which it is said prevented him from talking publicly about dealings with Sports Direct.

Ashley, in the application, had applied for a hefty fine to be applied to Rangers as well as the prison order for King.

The court was told Ashley has loaned funds to the club during a period of financial hardship, but the first of those loans was repaid in full yesterday.

Mr Quest said the terms of the injunction were well known to the club, and told the court: 'He says he has no recollection of whether he said the words or not.

'The court is entitled to drawn inferences, even to a criminal standard.

But the judge retorted: 'I'm not going to send a person to prison on inferences, when you choose not to have him cross-examined.'

He was scathing about Ashley's decision not to force King to give evidence, as he could not question him about the truth of the report by Mr White.

Mr Quest was also forced to admit they had not sought about the journalist to asking him whether the quotes were accurate.

'It wouldn't be the first time - the press has an amazing ability to invent things and attribute things to people that they didn't say', said the judge, alluding to an incident this summer when he was accused of ranting in court about his lost luggage.

After debating with Mr Quest for more than two hours, the judge turned ot King's barrister William McCormick QC and told him he did not need to argue his case.

'I'm going to dismiss the application to commit for reasons I will give later', he said.

The judge also pointed out the legal dispute between the parties had so far cost more than £400,000, and said: 'I do wonder what is the point of all this.

'£400,000 would get you a full back in the Scottish Second Division.'

He adjourned the hearing until this afternoon when there is expected to be further legal argument.

Mr Justice Peter Smith said he is minded to continue the injunction banning King from speaking to the press about dealings with Sports Direct, but added: 'I think it needs tidying up. He can discuss things that are already established and in the public domain.'

King sat at the back of court throughout the hearing, while Ashley was not present.

The judge warned King not to speak publicly about today's ruling as he has not yet been cleared of Contempt of Court.

He said: "Mr King should not assume he has been completely vindicated. It's going to be a close run thing. "

He pointed out that while he has dismissed the application to commit King to prison, there had been no final ruling on the issue of breaching the injunction.

He adjourned the case until tomorrow morning when the parties will return to possibly debate the terms of the interim injunction which is likely to be extended.

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