Clifford's fury over lapdancer story

Celebrity PR agent Max Clifford is at the centre of a row today concerning a lapdancer, a singer from the boy band Westlife, a Sunday tabloid and a West End firm of solicitors.

In The Lawyer magazine, Mr Clifford accused solicitors Jeffrey Green Russell of acting as advisers on a confidentiality agreement between lapdancer Amy Barker and singer Bryan McFadden, and then acting for her in selling the story to the Sunday People.

The solicitors emphasise they acted solely on behalf of Ms Barker and on her instructions at all times. They deny any impropriety.

The row started last month when the Sunday People published allegations by the lapdancer that she had sex with the multi-millionaire singer on his stag night in February before his marriage to Atomic Kitten Kerry Katona.

She had previously signed a £15,000 contract to keep quiet about the fling at a hotel in Limerick in order to protect the band's squeaky-clean image only two months before the lavish wedding in front of 240 guests in County Meath.

But, according to the newspaper, mother-of-two Ms Barker, from Wakefield, was so appalled by McFadden's "hypocrisy" in a photo spread in Hello! magazine when he declared his love and devotion for his bride that she decided to "expose his squalid secret".

Her expose of how the "sex-hungry" star had "groped her as she gyrated her 32DD curves inches from his face" and then bedded her in a "drunken three-minute sex session" appeared in the paper 10 days ago.

The article quoted a section of the contract which stated: "You possess information pertaining to the activities and conduct of Bryan McFadden... in consideration of the payment by Westlife to you of the sum of £15,000 you agree not to disclose or permit or allow to be disclosed on your behalf the confidential information." The figure acting as the middle man in the contract was Mr Clifford, who was left powerless and fuming when Ms Barker sold her story.

He turned his ire on the legal firm, in particular solicitor Stuart Nuttall, who had acted for Ms Barker when the contract was drawn up and continued to advise her on selling the story.

"I have negotiated dozens of agreements of this kind over the past 15 years or more with stars all over the world and this is the first time this has happened. It is the first time I have dealt with Jeffrey Green Russell and naturally the last," Mr Clifford said today.

"I'm amazed that a lawyer can advise on the drafting of a confidential agreement and then advise on the sale of a story that breaks that agreement. In my view his (Mr Nuttall's) actions speak for themselves."

Mr Clifford said Mr Nuttall had gone through the contract, drawn up by a separate firm of solicitors, made amendments and suggestions, "then gave me a bill for £1,000 for the amount of time he spent on it which I thought was a bit strong because he was already being paid by the lapdancer.

"Then I found out he was part of the negotiating process to break that agreement. The more embarrassment that this causes Jeffrey Green Russell the better."

Mr Nuttall was not at his desk today because of illness but a partner in the firm has confirmed to The Lawyer that he had advised Ms Barker on both contracts and had acted on her instructions at all times. Jeffrey Green Russell was said to have no duty to Mr Clifford because he was not a client of the firm.

Meanwhile, the new Mrs McFadden has decided to forgive her husband. In another newspaper exclusive she described his erstwhile conquest as "a cheap, horrible gold-digger".

"Bryan knows he has done wrong but we are going to try and put it all behind us," she said.