Former Poppies owner Ladak jailed

The former owner of Kettering Town FC has been jailed for contempt of court after breaching an order by making derogatory comments about former colleagues.

Imraan Ladak, who ran the Poppies from 2005 to 2013, left medical recruitment firm Pertemps Medical Group (PMG) in 2018 with a settlement of more than £125,000, as well as a payment of almost £400,000 for his shares.

As part of his settlement he agreed not to say anything that would bring the firm into disrepute or make derogatory comments about it and its employees.

In 2019 he claimed he was owed £20,000 and made a series of accusations in an attempt to get more compensation, a High Court hearing previously heard, breaching the contract and pursuing a "campaign of harassment".

On TWO occasions a judge ordered him not to do so through an interim injunction - but a court found he breached the order by sending a series of emails and private messages on LinkedIn.

And in a judgment His Honour Judge Rajeev Shetty ordered Ladak, 42, to be committed to HMP Birmingham for six months - three months for each contempt of court charge.

In his judgement, Judge Shetty said: "The said sentences are to be served consecutively from the date of the defendant’s surrender, or in default of his surrender, his apprehension.”

Ladak had until 4pm yesterday (Wednesday) to surrender at Milton Keynes Police Station. Thames Valley Police have been contacted for comment on whether he did so.

A previous court judgment revealed the nature of a number of accusations he had earlier made against PMG employees and directors.

He accused one former colleague of fraud and another of racism, saying emails were "more racist than Tommy Robinson".

Ladak signed off one email with: "Regards, that little brown guy you declared war on."

He claimed they had turned a blind eye to the defrauding of the NHS, that the Pertemps business was a “scam” and accused one director of being a "drunken pervert".

Ater PMG's lawyers sent a cease and desist letter Ladak sent an email to a director and addressed him as "Timmy Saville".

In another email to solicitors and stakeholders he said to one director: "Make sure your next job doesn’t need a CRB check.”

Ladak, who previously featured in a Sunday Times Rich List, insisted that his allegations were true and that his only interest was in exposing and stopping a significant fraud on the NHS, a court previously heard.

But a judge previously said Ladak had "wholly failed" to persuade him that papers served disclosed evidence of fraud, racism or sexual impropriety

Ladak, who was declared bankrupt on August 25, was ordered to pay PMG £70,000 in costs from the contempt applications. He is currently listed on Companies House as the chief executive of Milton Keynes-based OOH Medical.

The controversial former Poppies owner's reign almost saw the club go out of business after their ill-fated move to Nene Park.

He previously brought England legend Paul Gascoigne in as manager for 39 days before sacking him, putting the Poppies on the map.

Ladak was the target of the fans’ fury when the club ran into difficulties with many choosing to stay away until he left.

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