THE multimillionaire boss of a south Cumbria publisher has failed in a libel claim against a fire station watch manager.

Richard Parsons, of GCSE study guide company Coordination Group Publications, took Doug Atkinson to court after it was alleged the firefighter read aloud a so-called 'poison pen letter' to colleagues in Broughton.

Mr Parsons previously successfully sued others for libel over a series of defamatory letters that circulated in the village between 2018 and 2020 which claimed he was an adulterer, sexual exploiter and predatory abuser of vulnerable women.

According to a High Court judgment, the defendant conceded the contents of the letter were defamatory.

Mrs Justice Farbey said in the judgment: "The claimant's evidence that he found the letter highly distressing is unsurprising: the false allegations in the letter are horrible."

She said the letters were 'salacious and tendentious'.

Mr Parsons took action against Mr Atkinson claiming he had published one of the letters in November 2020 by reading it to four colleagues, including a friend of Mr Parsons, Chris Hull.

According to a High Court judgment, the letter was brought to the fire station and handed to Mr Atkinson by part-time firefighter Katie Armistead, who was herself previously successfully sued for libel by Mr Parsons alongside parents Allan and Elizabeth Garnett.

Giving evidence in court, Ms Armistead said she took the letter to the fire station as a 'bit of fun' as there was usually a lot of 'banter' between her and her colleagues.

Mr Atkinson, who left Cumbria Fire and Rescue in 2022 after 36 years, said he looked at the letter but did not read it aloud.

Mr Parsons had been told by a third party that Mr Atkinson had read the letter, the judgment said.

Crew manager Mr Hull, who went to primary school with the CGP boss, said Ms Armistead had handed the letter to Mr Atkinson, who then read it aloud 'laughing with her for five minutes'.

Mr Atkinson claimed the libel action was the result of a grudge from a historical planning dispute but the judge rejected this.

Ruling Mr Parsons had failed in his claim, Mrs Justice Farbey said she 'considered the evidence in the round and not on a compartmentalised basis' and said on the balance of probabilities Mr Hull had not been accurate in his evidence .

"I prefer the evidence of the defendant (supported by Ms Armistead) that he did not read aloud the letter to other firefighters as alleged," she said in her judgment.

"At any rate, the claimant has not met his burden of proving that the defendant read aloud the letter as alleged.

"The claimant fails to prove that the defendant published the letter."