A solicitor is heading for a High Court showdown with a client who called him "a greedy and incompetent tosspot."

Martin Cray, founding partner of Martin Cray and Co, of Edward Street, Brighton, is claiming thousands of pounds in damages from printer Anthony Hancock and his wife Corrine. The couple sent several insulting messages by fax following a row over how much the solicitor charged for representing them in court.

The case will be heard at the High Court in London after the two sides failed to reach agreement at a preliminary hearing.

Judge Mr Justice Eady, who sat at the hearing on Tuesday, is likely to preside over a libel trial early next year.

In a writ, Mr Cray is claiming "unquantifiable damages" and an injunction restraining the Hancocks from harassing him.

The argument broke out after the couple, of Rigden Road, Hove, decided to sue Hammonds bathroom fitters, accusing the firm of incompetently fitting a bathroom.

Mr Cray's firm was instructed to seek damages for breach of contract.

Cray and Co stopped acting for the Hancocks in April after a disagreement. Mr Cray's writ claims he then received letters in July accusing him of ripping them off.

It contains copies of three faxes written by Mr Hancock, who owns The Print Factory on Bellbrook industrial estate, Uckfield. In the first he wrote: "Dear Cray, your turn next for an expos, you greedy incompetent and inefficient tosspot."

In another he wrote: "Cray, you are thick as well as greedy. Any attempt to injunct me will be given full publicity, alerting the City to a potential nasty smell. This will cost you a lot more in lost business than the money you ripped off my wife."

Mr Cray's writ says the words suggested he had fraudulently overcharged the Hancocks for work he had not done. It says he suffered considerable damage to his reputation and the letters caused "substantial distress and embarrassment."

In January, a judge at Brighton County Court ordered the bathroom work to be re-done and awarded the Hancocks £7,500 costs.