Feud between tycoons ended with assault in Mayfair bar
A ProPerTY developer was convicted yesterday of hitting one of Britain’s richest men in a Mayfair bar.
simon Lyons, 38, claimed he had lashed out because Giles Mackay had called him ‘a lying shyster Jew’.
But a judge ruled that the assault at the MNkY Hse bar was unprovoked. she found Lyons guilty of common assault.
CCTV showed the Canadian-born entrepreneur hitting Mr Mackay, 56, before he was pulled away by door staff at the venue popular with celebrities such as kate Moss. Mr Mackay is seen kicking out to protect himself as Lyons tried to continue the attack.
The conviction follows a legal battle between the feuding tycoons to prevent damaging personal allegations being made public. In pre-trial hearings, Lyons made a number of claims about Mr Mackay, who dropped out of the court case in an apparent effort to prevent the slurs being made public.
when the case was originally scheduled to take place in March, Mr Mackay withdrew a harassment claim against Lyons and initially refused to take part in the prosecution.
Then, when the Crown Prosecution service proceeded in his absence, Mr Mackay appeared at City of London Magistrates Court mid-way through legal argument to offer to give evidence.
The judge said this development was unprecedented.
Mr Mackay spent six months trying to gag the Press and prevent the allegations made by Lyons being aired in the trial. In the end the judge ruled them inadmissible.
Lyons, who runs enstar Capital, and Mr Mackay, who has a £100million house in kensington, had known each other for around four years, the court heard.
Their friendly relationship had broken down after Lyons allegedly made rude comments about Mr Mackay during family court proceedings with Lyons’ ex-partner.
Lyons was fined £3,000, ordered to pay £5,956 in costs and given a one-year restraining order for the attack last october.
Judge sandhu told him: ‘ You have lost your good character – the facts and stark reality remains that your relationship obviously deteriorated to such an extent that it culminated in the events of october 7.
‘I only hope, in relation to your personal life, that you are able to put these matters behind you.’
A spokesman for Mr Mackay said: ‘He is pleased with today’s verdict. He was subjected to an unprovoked attack in full view of other clientele at the venue.
‘He is pleased the judge said that she was sure Mr Mackay made no anti- semitic comments to Mr Lyons.
‘To be clear, Mr Mackay is not anti-semitic and would never use a phrase like this. He is repulsed by the claim that he did.’
Mr Mackay is the founder of Hometrack, a property market analytics company, which was sold to Zoopla for £120million.