Two well-known Pembrokeshire men went head-to-head in court last week to thrash out a compensation claim following an incident four years ago.

John Green, managing director of PMS car sales in Haverfordwest, is suing former triple British Rally driving champion, David Llewellin, of Rudbaxton.

Mr Green claims he has developed knee problems and suffered post-traumatic stress since his former brother-in-law kicked him in the back of the knee in 2007.

Mr Llewellin, who received a Lifetime Achievement Award in the Sport Pembrokeshire Awards last year, was given a police caution for the assault at the time.

A District Judge sitting at Haverfordwest County Court heard that the two men had been involved in a heated argument over Mr Green’s divorce from Mr Llewellin’s sister.

And Mr Green claimed his former friend’s actions had left him “absolutely petrified”.

He told the court that Llewellin had turned up at his workplace to talk to him, later becoming aggressive and threatening to kill him.

Both men then left the building, with Green telling Llewellin that he would call the police if he came round again with the same attitude.

He claimed that Llewellin then turned round and squared up to him, prompting him to run in the opposite direction.

“I then felt a blow to the back of my left leg,” said the businessman, who later went to his GP, supported by his current wife, as he claimed he could not bear his own weight.

Mr Llewellin denied making threats to kill, saying that would have resulted in him losing his shotgun licence, but admitted banging the table once.

He claimed he had been trying to keep out of his sister’s divorce, but he had been upset by offensive text messages sent by Green to his family.

The court also heard that when the defendant left the office he had been followed by Green, who called him “a big-headed arrogant pig”.

“At that point I put my fists up, he ran, and I kicked him in the right buttock,” he said. “But I was provoked into it.”

In evidence, Mr Green admitted his GP had not sent him to A and E at the time, but he had been told by a professor in 2009 that his knee showed “significant loss of function”.

His counsel, Mr David Regan, said he had also visited a psychiatrist and occcasionally suffered flashbacks when he closed the shower or office door or when he was flying his plane.

Defence counsel Mr Nick Thomas-Symonds said that Mr Green had claimed on two subsequent Civil Aviation Authority medical forms – one just days after the professor’s diagnosis – that he was fit to fly his own plane.

He said it would have been difficult for the defendant to kick him in the back of the leg if he had been running away. He had also been fit enough to take sports photographs for two local papers the next day.

Disputing Mr Thomas-Symonds’ claim that the case should be dismissed, Mr Regan referred to a comment by Mr Llewellin about kicking Mr Green “up the ****”.

This is a man who clearly “treats assault with levity”, he said.

District Judge John Doel adjourned his verdict until a later date.