A prostitute is suing a millionaire ex-lover who was sent to prison for trying to have her killed.

Nicola Richardson wants £70,000 compensation for presents she says Ian Howie gave her but took back.

Howie, a car dealer and properly tycoon, formerly of Davigdor Road, Hove, will fight the case and is counter-suing for £21,000.

He will be taken to the courtroom from prison where he is serving six years for trying to hire a hitman to kill Miss Richardson.

Howie claims he fell in love with the £500-fee call girl but now realises she treated him as a "meal ticket".

Miss Richardson, a mother-of-two, is claiming more than £70,000 for the gifts, which included a £32,000 BMW convertible and a Mercedes.

Howie's trial in 2001 heard he became obsessed with Miss Richardson after he started paying her for sex after they met in Brighton.

The court heard the pair began an affair shortly afterwards and Howie, who was married at the time, showered her with gifts, set her up in a luxury house and gave her use of a credit card.

A jury at Lewes Crown Court heard that when their affair turned sour he hired an undercover policeman, posing as a hitman, to shoot her for £5,000.

Miss Richardson says Howie bought a £150,000 home for her and her two children to live in just two months after they met.

Her statement reads: "The house had been lavishly decorated and furnished and the defendant expected me not to work any more but keep myself exclusively for him.

"After some months it became obvious to me that the arrangement would not work.

"The defendant remained married and committed to his family but became increasingly obsessive in his behaviour towards me."

Miss Richardson says Howie continued to buy her gifts including a property in Hastings for her to use as a brothel.

But Howie denies he ever gave her the cars and said she had never held a full driving licence.

The hearing, to take place at Brighton County Court, will hear evidence supporting Howie from his ex-wife Sally-Anne Howie, who divorced him after 18 years of marriage.

She is expected to give evidence to say Howie had frequently lent cars to friends.