spent £200,000 bringing private prosecution, taken on by CPS, accusing Miss de Freitas of perverting course of justice

Alexander Economou, 36, from Chelsea, is accused of harassing David de Freitas for just under a year with letters, email and YouTube videos

The son of a shipping magnate who brought a private prosecution against a woman who accused him of rape before killing herself has denied harassing her father for a year, a court heard today.

Alexander Economou, 36, from Chelsea, is accused of harassing David de Freitas for just under a year with letters, email and YouTube videos following the death of his daughter Eleanor.

The 23-year-old trainee accountant, a brilliant former Durham University student, had accused Mr Economou of rape and was due to appear at Southwark Crown Court for allegedly perverting the course of justice.

She was found dead at her home in Fulham, London, three days before she was due to stand trial.

Mr Economou, the son of shipping magnate Angelo Economou allegedly raped Miss de Freitas, in December 2012 but the Crown Prosecution Service refused to prosecute due to insufficient evidence.

He then pursued a private prosecution against her for perverting the course of justice which was then taken up by the CPS.

She killed herself three days before she was due to stand trial and Economou is now suing her father for his comments in the media.

Today Economou stood in the dock wearing stonewashed jeans, a blue check shirt and a navy jumper and spoke only to confirm his name, age and date of birth and to plead not guilty to one charge of harassing Mr de Freitas between November 5 2014 and October 2015.

He is alleged to have sent an email directly to Mr de Freitas - which his lawyer today claimed set out the evidence Mr Economou was intending to rely on in court - and a series of emails to him via his solicitor Harriet Wistrich.

He also uploaded voice recordings to YouTube, Vimeo and Liveleaks and maintained a website about the allegations against him.

The website is still online but the domain name has been changed.

As well as denying the charges, Economou claims they do not amount to criminal conduct and are defective as they are not particular enough.

Economou, 36, is accused of harassing David de Freitas for just under a year following the death of his daughter Eleanor. The 23-year-old trainee accountant, a brilliant former Durham University student, had accused Mr Economou of rape and was due to appear at Southwark Crown Court for allegedly perverting the course of justice. She killed herself three days before she was due to stand trial

His lawyer Gideon Cammerman said: 'The later selections of the alleged conduct do not amount to criminal conduct.

'The charges are insufficiently particular as of the criminal procedure rules.

'For those reasons it is said that the charge is defective.'

Economou was bailed on conditions that he does not to contact David de Freitas or Ms Wistrich, except in the presence or through solicitors, and not to publish anything about the case, save for in relation to the libel proceedings, until his next appearance at court.

In court, he and his lawyer Gideon Cammerman challenged the conditions by claiming it would prevent him from his right to rebut things said about him in the media.

Speaking directly to District Judge Elizabeth Roscoe when asked if he understood the bail conditions, Economou said: 'No, I don't understand.

'I have a website that says David de Freitas is going to trial for libel.

'It is very important that the website stays up as it says that I am suing him for libel.

'It explains very clearly for the people, my friends, acquaintances, new friends, that google me every day.

'It says that David de Freitas went to the press and said I was a rapist and I need to explain that I am not a rapist.'

District Judge Roscoe said the bail conditions would not force him to take down anything that was already in the public domain.

She said: 'If you were to take that material which is on a particular website and you were to then copy it and disseminate it on another website that would be publishing.'

The 36-year-old allegedly bombarded David de Freitas (left) with letters, email and YouTube videos following the death of his daughter Eleanor (pictured right)

She added: 'If you breach that you will be in breach of your bail.'

Mr Cammerman said that imposing a non-contact condition would not be fair as Mr de Freitas's lawyers had themselves requested face-to-face meetings with Mr Economou.

He added: 'Of course there was ongoing contact between Mr Economou and Mr de Freitas about his interviews with the national media and what was in them.'

But Judge Roscoe said that the condition would not prevent him from attending the required legal meetings in the presence of solicitors.

Mr Economou's father Angelo, 62, is a successful businessman of Greek origin who was born in Britain. He runs UK-registered firm Time and Tide Shipping, and lives in a £830,000 house in Chiddingfold, Surrey.

Alexander Economou is the company secretary of his father's firm and a former director of a helicopter training school.

The court is looking for a date to have a one hour preliminary hearing to decide whether the charges need to be further particularised and whether some parts do not amount to criminal conduct.