Director is ordered to pay £31k damages

An accountant and director of a Midland football club must pay thousands of pounds in damages for trying to poach clients he had sold to another company for £1million.

Andrew John Maidstone, aged 46, who joined Kidderminster Harriers board in April, will have to pay £31,875, to Baldwins accountancy firm after the ruling.

Maidstone, sold his 10-year-old accountancy business, and client list, to Baldwins (Ashby) Ltd in September 2007.

Under terms of the sale, he promised not to "canvass, solicit or endeavour to entice" former clients away for at least three years.

However, Judge Simon Brown QC told London's High Court Maidstone solicited clients from Baldwins, so that they lost work and cash.

In his judgement, he said Maidstone sold his Leicester business to them, but went back to work for Baldwins just over a year later in November 2008.

However, a month later he "secretly" met partners at a different firm of accountants, Charnwoods, to talk about how he could work for them, the court was told.

Terms, including a 20 per cent commission for "new clients introduced", something he told the court was "success-based remuneration," were proposed by him.

He did not resign from Baldwins until October 2009, citing demotivation and disillusionment and saying he had no intention of setting up practice again.

Judge Brown said that email evidence was "overwhelmingly of a secret agreement" made in March 2009 for Maidstone to "solicit" old clients from Baldwins.

He said: "He was intending 'to have his cake and eat it' – to use the vernacular he was greedy."