Star trader Neil Woodford ‘shocked’ by Stobart conspiracy allegations

Star trader Neil Woodford told the High Court he was “shocked” at allegations he conspired to injure Stobart as the trial into the dismissal of former boss Andrew Tinkler rumbled on.

The Southend Airport owner, suing Tinkler for leading an unlawful conspiracy against it, has accused investment fund boss Woodford of conspiring to topple chairman Iain Ferguson and harm the firm.

Tinkler had supported The Edinburgh Woollen Mill owner Philip Day for the role but he was narrowly defeated in a shareholders' vote.

Woodford told the court he had assessed Day as a potential director and what he could bring to Stobart, but refuted the allegations of unlawfully conspiring to harm Stobart.

In a written witness statement said: “Those allegations are untrue and there is no evidential basis for them.

“Indeed they are illogical. Why I would want to 'injure' Stobart, in which I have chosen to invest my investors' funds is never explained, as is the allegation that I conspired with Andrew Tinkler to pursue his interests over those of Stobart.”

Woodford's company Woodford Investment Management (WIM) manages funds owning just under 20 per cent of Stobart's shares.

The fund boss himself has managed funds invested in Stobart for more than a decade.

Tinkler, who was chief executive for more than nine years, has lodged a counterclaim that his dismissal was invalid.

At the AGM just days before his dismissal he suggested the company's $300m (£225m) deal, which will see three Ryanair aircraft based at the airport from next summer, would negatively impact its finances.

In a separate matter, Stobart claim Tinkler further breached his fiduciary duties through “excessive and unnecessary” expenses of £5m.

The court heard his daughter had been using a company flat in Soho Square and Range Rover acquired at a charity event and that Tinkler had used Stobart funds for his helicopter and jet travel.

Tinkler denies all the allegations.

The trial continues.