Millionaire author loses poison pen letter libel case against his primary school friend in bitter legal battle that has divided sleepy Lake District town

A multi-millionaire author has lost a poison pen letter libel case against his friend from primary school in the latest step in a long and bitter legal battle that has divided a sleepy Lake District town.

Former maths teacher Richard Parsons, 58, amassed a £115million fortune through his CGP exam revision guides which are poured over by GCSE and A-Level pupils across Britain.

Mr Parsons has been at the forefront of a libel case against residents of Broughton-in-Furness, Cumbria - which has a population of less than 600 - who he says have read malicious lies about him within the community.

Mr Parsons accused Douglas Atkinson a former friend from primary school of reading out one of the defamatory letters, which included several untrue allegations that he harmed the community with his 'greed and selfishness', the High Court in London heard.

The letter also falsely said the author had made 'many unethical business dealings', that he treated staff 'appallingly', and that he cheated on his wife by having 'adulterous relationships with their live-in housemaid and a vulnerable single woman'.

It also claimed that Mr Parsons exploited a vulnerable woman by providing her with accommodation if she would have sex with him, The Times reports.

Mr Parsons is married to his wife Kyra, they have two children together and live in an apartment in the 14th Century Broughton Tower Castle.

Mr Parsons was brought up in Cumbria and, after studying physics at Oxford University, returned there to work as a maths teacher.

But he made his fortune after deciding the GCSE revision guides available at the time were not good enough and that he could do better.

He quit teaching in 1995 and began writing his first manuscript, which was later published through his own company, Coordination Group Publications (CGP).

By the end of 2009, his 600 titles had sold over nine million books, grossing over £48million.

CGP was valued at £120million in 2019, giving Mr Parsons, who owns 95 per cent of the shares, a net worth of £114million.

He also owns a petrol station and leisure centre in Broughton-on-Furness, Cumbria, where he lives with his wife and two children, as well as land including that farmed by the Garnetts.

A family of tenant farmers were first sued by Mr Parsons after letters comparing him to Hollywood sex predator Harvey Weinstein and Prince Andrew were shared in the town.

He claimed the Garnetts launched a campaign of harassment against him from 2018, first with an anonymous letter which said: 'Once upon a time. There was a tw*t. It was you. The end.'

Elizabeth Garnett, 54, and husband Allan, 57, and their daughter Katie Armistead at first said they intended to defend against the claim in court but the case was settled in 2022 without a trial, so a judge made no ruling on if they wrote the letters.

At the time, a judge ordered Mr and Mrs Garnett to pay £8,000 damages jointly for libel, plus £12,000 for harassment, and Mrs Armistead to pay £2,000 in libel damages.

She also ordered the defendants to pay £45,000 on account of Mr Parsons' legal costs, which were expected to run to more than £100,000.

Mr Parsons sued another Broughton resident, Gary McClure, 68, last year, and was awarded £70,000 in damages and legal costs after the chef, who has appeared on TV shows including The Generation Game, posted one of the letters on his Facebook page, where he has 700 followers.

He declared himself bankrupt following the legal action, and claimed in a local newspaper: 'I am born and bred in Broughton and now I can't go to the pub, shop or garage because [Mr Parsons] owns everything. I'm being pushed out of the village.'

Mr Parsons then launched legal action against a fellow former pupil of Broughton-in-Furness Church of England Primary School, where their children attend together.

Mr Atkinson, 60, then-chief of local part-time fire service, was accused of reading the poison pen letter out loud to four other firefighters, which included Sir William Jardine, the 13th Baronet and 24th Chief of the Clan Jardine.

The court heard the letter was given to Mr Atkinson by Katie Armistead, who was also a firefighter. He denied reading the letter out loud and said he instead read it to himself silently.

The battle led him to resign from the fire brigade after serving for 36 years - 25 of which he ran Broughton fire station.

The fire chief was overheard reading the letter by crew manager Chris Hull, who owns a building firm, it was alleged in court.

Sir Jardine, 39, and his brother John, 32, were also claimed to have been present. Both of them worked for Mr Hull's company. Firefighters who were not at the claimed reading of the letter work for Mr Parsons' company.

Chris Hull, 58, also attended primary school with Mr Parsons and the court heard they are still friends. The wealthy publisher bought Mr Hull's marriage home so his ex-wife could live there when their relationship broke down.

In her judgment, Mrs Justice Farbey wrote: 'I am not saying that Mr Hull is obsequious or favour-seeking [but] he is on [the Parsons'] side in this small community.'

Mr Atkinson said he did not attempt to intimidate the Jardines with a threat to report them for breaching fire service rules after wearing uniforms to the pub.

He told the court the libel claim was brought because of a 'grudge or vendetta' after blocking an application by Mr Parsons to extend the Broughton visitor information centre car park.

However, the judge said this was not the case as Mr Parsons invited Mr Atkinson and his family to their yearly summer party.

Mr Atkinson also withdrew a claim of a 'witch hunt' when Mr Parsons put articles in the Parish Pump local magazine which asked for information about how the letters were sent out.

The judge ruled that while the 'false allegations in the letter are horrible', Mr Atkinson did not defame the CGP founder as there was not enough evidence to prove he read it out loud. A claim for misuse of private information was also dismissed. 

CGP told The Times: 'In November 2020 a highly defamatory letter was circulated in the Broughton in Furness area, where CGP's head office is located.

'The letter made a number of deeply unpleasant and false allegations directed at CGP's chairman, Richard Parsons. Since then, Mr Parsons' legal team has undertaken a great deal of work to identify those responsible for publishing and distributing the letter.'