Kirsty Wark's husband loses court battle as judge frowns upon his email hacking

Deputy Judge Bernard Livesey QC said Clements' own behaviour justified RDF's decision to terminate his contract on May 3 2007.

The judge said Mr Clements had procured his wife's personal assistant, Janice McKnight, to access former colleague Hamish Barbour's private email inbox on RDF's website to monitor what was being said about him at the company.

The judge said: "He must have known it was neither fair play nor honourable. I find it more than a little surprising that he should have snooped into the private correspondence of a close colleague and friend, having regard to the strong objection he has shown in this case to the reports in the newspaper which alleged that he had behaved in a dishonourable manner."

He said, referring to this as 'snooping', that Clements had 'behaved dishonourably and in breach of process.'

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Clements, of Glasgow, had claimed that he was constructively dismissed from RDF after it criticised him in the press, and in those circumstances was entitled to summarily end his employment contract with RDF, because of their actions.

He claimed this meant the restrictions in his contract lasted only two years, and he could start work at SMG this month.

Today though the High Court dismissed his claim.

RDF won a court order preventing Clements, who is believed to have netted almost £2million when RDF bought his company IWC for £14m in December 2005, from working for SMG until December 2008.

Their action was based on a three-year 'non compete' clause in the sale contract.

The judge also said Clements 'credibility' was affected by the fact pencil entries in his diary had been erased.

He said: "I do not accept that Mr Clements was telling the truth when he said that the erasure was innocent.

"In my judgment the reason is probably because they contained reference to an earlier contact with Rob Woodward [of SMG] than he has disclosed at which the first intimation of an offer from SMG was raised and interest shown in accepting it.

"He would want to conceal this because it would challenge his good faith in pledging to the Sunday Herald on March 18 that he was committed to IWC for the foreseeable future."

Ruling that RDF was entitled to terminate his contract the judge said: "The point is that if one looks objectively at the relationship between RDF and Mr Clements that relationship had already been seriously damaged or destroyed by misconduct on his part which went to the root of the relationship.

"As a matter of causation I would hold that the relationship was destroyed not by RDF but by Mr Clements as a result of his breach of the mutual obligation.

"It would be inequitable for Mr Clements if he were able to claim that RDF caused serious damage to the relationship where the relationship in question was already seriously damaged or destroyed by his own conduct."

The decision blocks Clements' right to work as head of content at Glasgow-based SMG, which runs two ITV franchises in Scotland and owns the production arm behind hit shows like Taggart and Rebus.

Clements, a well-respected figure in the industry, resigned as creative director at RDF by e-mail on March 30 2007.

The company says that was only days after he gave an interview to the Sunday Herald affirming his commitment to the company.

RDF had argued in court that Clements' contract required him to give six months' notice, and that clauses in the agreement under which Clements' company IWC - the production company behind Location Location Location - was taken over by RDF, imposed even more 'taxing' obligations.

RDF's lawyers argued that under a deal believed to have been worth £2m to him, Clements signed an agreement which prevented him from working for a rival until three years after the date of sale.

This, they claimed, prevented him from joining SMG until December 2 2008.

They said that Clements had made a proposal to RDF, suggesting that they allowed him to leave with a reduced notice period of four-six weeks, join SMG with immediate effect, and take certain projects with him to SMG, with RDF retaining only a share in the profits.

The projects included a Richard Dawkins programme, and one titled 'My Life As A Teen'.

Clements was said to have told RDF that the alternative would be 'an unseemly public parting of the ways that would be damaging to both'.

Speaking after his High Court defeat, Alan Clements vowed to take his case further to the Court of Appeal, after the judge granted permission for him to do so.

Mr Clements said: "I am disappointed by today's verdict but my legal team and I will appeal and have been given permission to do so.

"It is some consolation that the judge found that RDF had 'stirred up' the case by vilifying me through the media.

"That said, clearly I misread RDF's willingness to reach any amicable arrangement to enable me to move to another job with SMG. Instead, of a straightforward negotiation it became bitter and personal.

"The court found that I broke my contract by talking to SMG. I don't accept that. Half the people in our industry would be out of a job if that was the case .

"It goes on all the time. I have been given permission to appeal on this.

"I am grateful to SMG for their unswerving support throughout all of this."