Lawyers hit The Plumber

A FIRM of lawyers has launched bankruptcy proceedings against Paul Davidson, the controversial entrepreneur known as The Plumber, after he failed to pay fees of more than £100,000.

The action is the latest legal battle to hit Davidson, 48, who narrowly escaped jail on Thursday on contempt charges in his long-running dispute with pipe-fitting company Oystertec.

A spokesman for Wacks Caller said the Manchester law firm was suing for 'professional fees and disbursements related to a number of different matters' when it had represented Davidson. It described him as being of 'occupation unknown'.

The case was originally brought in Macclesfield County Court but has now transferred to London. A High Court hearing is due to be held on November 22.

Davidson, who was described in the High Court last week as 'an alcohol-dependent depressive', is now fighting seven court cases.

He said: 'I can't concentrate. I'm only able to concentrate for one-and-a-half hours a day.'

Financial Mail reported last week that City law firm Norton Rose had launched proceedings to seize his luxury home in Prestbury, Cheshire, to cover an allegedly unpaid bill of more than £860,000 for work carried out between March 2003 and January this year.

In a writ filed at the High Court, Norton Rose alleged that Davidson calculated he had debts of £24m and assets of only £4m, and had proposed entering a voluntary bankruptcy arrangement on August 31.

Norton Rose represented Davidson in his battle against the Financial Services Authority, which fined him £750,000 over a £5 million spread bet in biotech company Cyprotex.

The City regulator claimed the spread bet helped the successful flotation of Cyprotex by pushing up the share price, and that this represented market abuse. Davidson, who claims to be ignorant of the bet, says he was not even interviewed before being fined.