In a twist that could only happen in the rarefied air of high finance and high drama, a High Court judge has ruled that Peter Waddell, the 60-year-old multimillionaire boss of used-car firm Big Motoring World, was ousted from his £300m company via 'a pre-conceived and orchestrated plan' hatched by his private equity backers. But - because nothing in this saga is simple - the judge also found Waddell was 'properly dismissed for gross misconduct' after allegedly making racist and sexist remarks.

Mr Justice Marcus Smith, clearly enjoying his role as arbiter of this corporate soap opera, ruled that Freshstream, the private equity investor that had acquired about a third of the Kent-based dealership in April 2022, didn't address Waddell's behaviour to trap him later. Oh no, they just let it 'continue, unchecked, until Freshstream was in a position to cause Mr Waddell's exclusion from Big' - a strategy that sounds suspiciously like a plan, but what do we know?

Smith described the coup as resulting in 'more-or-less open warfare' at the car seller, causing 'unfair prejudice' to the investment company holding Waddell's majority stake. He added that while there were matters that should have triggered disciplinary action long before 2023, Freshstream's approach was to let the misconduct fester until they could seize control without exercising a pre-agreed call option - essentially, a contract that would have let them buy Waddell's shares.

Waddell, who is deaf and dyslexic, has a backstory that would make a Hollywood screenwriter blush: childhood in care, a spell of homelessness, and then building a car empire from scratch. By 2021, his company boasted 525 employees, revenues of £371m, and profits of £6.6m - figures that presumably made Freshstream's mouth water when they swooped in for a third of the business.

Waddell, who claims his speaking style was known to Freshstream before they invested, said 'justice had been done' and he now wants to reacquire the company. Freshstream, meanwhile, welcomed the judge's findings that Waddell was rightly dismissed for gross misconduct, including 'repeated acts of bullying and harassment (including sexual harassment)', and noted that some of his claims had failed. They were, however, 'disappointed' by findings about their failure to address his conduct - because nothing says 'we're the good guys' like being disappointed you didn't stop a racist, misogynistic bully sooner.

Remedies will be decided at a future hearing, so stay tuned for the next thrilling instalment of 'Private Equity vs. The Gifted But Flawed Tycoon'.