Noel Edmonds was yesterday accused of acting in a "slippery" manner during a pair of property deals that went wrong.
General Sir Richard George Lawson, former Commander-in-Chief of Allied Forces Northern Europe, said the presenter of the Channel 4 programme Deal or No Deal became evasive and failed to answer phone calls about allegedly unpaid building work on a £1.3 million property in Exeter.
The former commander was giving evidence to defend his son Ulrik, 50, a property develop, who is being sued by Mr Edmonds for £370,000.
That writ is in relation to their joint purchase of another property, a country estate called Wood House in South Tawton, Devon, which they purchased for £2.1 million in 2006.
Each put in £300,000 towards a deposit, while they borrowed the rest. Mr Edmonds, 62, invested a total of £572,000.
The idea was to develop the property with housing but they failed to obtain planning permission and it was sold at a loss.
Ulrik Lawson recouped the £300,000 he invested, but Mr Edmonds received only £52,000.
The presenter said he had relied on a verbal agreement with Mr Lawson that he would get all his investment back first, while Mr Lawson would "take the hit".
On Monday Mr Edmonds told Bristol county court: "I believed in my friend. It never occurred to me for a minute that I could be the subject of a betrayal."
Mr Lawson has denied they agreed such a verbal contract. He has also launched a counter-claim saying his former friend and business partner failed to pay for £260,000 of building work on St Surf, a 6,000 square foot property in Exeter, which Mr Edmonds bought alone in 2006.
He asked Mr Lawson to help renovate the city property, installing a gym, Jacuzzi-style bath and large fish tank, to make it the "best house in Exeter". The television presenter sold it, half-finished, for just over £2 million in 2008.
Yesterday Sir Richard said he had met Mr Edmonds and his assitant, Maria Robertson, twice in 2008 to discuss the unpaid building work on St Surf, on behalf of his son.
He then wrote him a letter which he said "had to be a bit sharper saying 'when are you going to pay these overdrafts?'"
Sir Richard went on: "I was suspicious because of the response that we had from Noel Edmonds and I decided that I would be better fixed to deal with what I called 'The Edmonds Saga'.
"You have to remember the other side of this. We wished to recover money on St Surf to keep the company buoyant but the long term was Wood [House] and he didn't want to lose that by blowing it out of water on St Surf.
"It was getting a bit slippery. Noel did not answer phone calls."
By that stage the relationship between Mr Edmonds and Mr Lawson had turned acrimonious.
The hearing was told that Mr Edmonds had made a number of "very unpleasant" allegations about Sir Richard's son.
In one email to Sir Richard, he wrote: "You are going to come away with everything intact but the knowledge that your son has screwed over a close friend.
"I allowed my friendship with Ulrik to cloud my judgement and failed to see what was a scam."
Mr Edmonds and Mr Lawson became friends in 2002 and two years later the presenter stayed with him for a time after his divorce from his second wife, Helen Soby.
David Holland, representing Mr Edmonds, said on Monday that the breakdown of the friendship had been "almost like a divorce" itself.
Mr Edmonds has stated that invoices for work on St Surf were not paid after October 2007. However, he maintains that there was an agreement between them that Mr Lawson would not charge for labour - a claim the property developer denies. The hearing continues.
The presenter said he had relied on a verbal agreement with Mr Lawson that he would get all his investment back first, while Mr Lawson would "take the hit".
On Monday Mr Edmonds told Bristol county court: "I believed in my friend. It never occurred to me for a minute that I could be the subject of a betrayal."
Mr Lawson has denied they agreed such a verbal contract. He has also launched a counter-claim saying his former friend and business partner failed to pay for £260,000 of building work on St Surf, a 6,000 square foot property in Exeter, which Mr Edmonds bought alone in 2006.
He asked Mr Lawson to help renovate the city property, installing a gym, Jacuzzi-style bath and large fish tank, to make it the "best house in Exeter". The television presenter sold it, half-finished, for just over £2 million in 2008.
Yesterday Sir Richard said he had met Mr Edmonds and his assitant, Maria Robertson, twice in 2008 to discuss the unpaid building work on St Surf, on behalf of his son.
He then wrote him a letter which he said "had to be a bit sharper saying 'when are you going to pay these overdrafts?'"
Sir Richard went on: "I was suspicious because of the response that we had from Noel Edmonds and I decided that I would be better fixed to deal with what I called 'The Edmonds Saga'.
"You have to remember the other side of this. We wished to recover money on St Surf to keep the company buoyant but the long term was Wood [House] and he didn't want to lose that by blowing it out of water on St Surf.
"It was getting a bit slippery. Noel did not answer phone calls."
By that stage the relationship between Mr Edmonds and Mr Lawson had turned acrimonious.
The hearing was told that Mr Edmonds had made a number of "very unpleasant" allegations about Sir Richard's son.
In one email to Sir Richard, he wrote: "You are going to come away with everything intact but the knowledge that your son has screwed over a close friend.
"I allowed my friendship with Ulrik to cloud my judgement and failed to see what was a scam."
Mr Edmonds and Mr Lawson became friends in 2002 and two years later the presenter stayed with him for a time after his divorce from his second wife, Helen Soby.
David Holland, representing Mr Edmonds, said on Monday that the breakdown of the friendship had been "almost like a divorce" itself.
Mr Edmonds has stated that invoices for work on St Surf were not paid after October 2007. However, he maintains that there was an agreement between them that Mr Lawson would not charge for labour - a claim the property developer denies. The hearing continues.
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