'Dragons' Den's Roots sued over recipe

Dragons' Den star Levi Roots has been accused of stealing the recipe for his famous Reggae Reggae Sauce by an old friend.

Tony Bailey has filed a claim in the High Court for more than £300,000 alleging that Roots, 51, stole his recipe before appearing on the BBC programme three years ago.

The pair had worked together on a takeaway food stall in Brixton, South London, for 17 years. Roots was backed to the tune of £50,000 on the show after he impressed tycoon Peter Jones with a recipe he said had been devised by his grandmother.

According to The Mail On Sunday, it is understood that Bailey claims that Roots invented the story about his grandmother as a ‘marketing ploy’ to persuade the Dragons to back him.

A source claimed that the recipe was "definitely Tony's".

"Levi did tell Tony that he was going to go on Dragons’ Den but Tony was amazed when he then lied about the provenance of the sauce," the source said.

"After the programme Levi made some payments to Tony which were never really explained. At first it didn't seem right to take legal action but Tony is angry at how things have turned out."

Roots declined to comment.