A court has stopped the sale of a crumbling pier which could have cleared the structure's massive debts.

Hastings Pier owner Ravenclaw Investments has tried to sell the pier to a new company, Hastings Pier Ltd.

Ravenclaw's commercial manager Harmesh Pooni was a director of the new company.

Transfer of ownership of the structure could have wiped out the pier's debts which total hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Hastings Borough Council used emergency powers to close the 130-year-old structure last June 16 because of fears it could collapse.

The High Court's Mr Justice Briggs has imposed an injunction on Ravenclaw which prevents it selling the pier.

Last month the court ordered Ravenclaw to pay the pier's tenant Stylus Sports £280,000 to cover loss of earnings and redundancy costs for its 40 workers.

Had the sale gone ahead, the pier's new owners might not have had to pay Stylus Sports, which run a bingo club and bar on the pier.

Stylus Sports's solicitor Paul Maynard said: "In the absence of any explanation from Ravenclaw this appears to be an attempt to frustrate the judgment that Stylus Sports had obtained against Ravenclaw.

"We applied for an emergency without notice injunction freezing the assets of Ravenclaw and Hastings Pier Ltd to prevent the transaction going ahead.

"The result of the transfer of ownership of the Pier would have been to defeat the judgment of £280,000 that Stylus Sports had obtained against Ravenclaw."

Harmesh Pooni has defended the decision by the Panama based Ravenclaw to sell the structure to Hastings Pier Ltd.

He said: "It would have protected the pier's long-term future and I can only say it was a positive move.

"If the property had been moved on shore it would have been positive for Hastings Pier itself.

"It would open further possibilities to grant funding from the lottery and other bodies.

"I would have welcomed the council and friends of Hastings Pier to be part of the new company."

Mr Pooni denied the decision was taken to clear the pier's debts.

He said: "I cannot see where Stylus Sports would have lost out.

"As far Stylus Sports and Ravenclaw are concerned, they still have their issues which would continue."

Ravenclaw lost an appeal last month at Lewes County Court to get the pier reopened.

Stylus Sports and the council have started £200,000 repair work on the pier.

They intend to reopen the tourist attraction on July 1 and claim back the costs of repair work from the owners.

Ravenclaw has breached a High Court order made last September which required it to start repair work.

Ravenclaw bosses have opposed the work because it has started without their consent.