A multi-millionaire Oxfordshire businessman yesterday accused a former employee of theft as he denied claims he had sacked the man and his wife in a fit of anger over a chicken dinner.

Developer Kevin Cash, of North Aston Hall, near Deddington, said documents produced during an employment tribunal could only have come from Francisco de Sousa trawling through his belongings.

Mr Cash, who is said to be worth up to £500m, insisted the papers had been stored in a locked wardrobe which Mr de Sousa had keys to.

Only after the threat of an injunction from his solicitors were the documents returned to him, Mr Cash told the tribunal in Reading.

Mr de Sousa and his wife Maria, originally from Portugal, are claiming unfair dismissal after losing their jobs as household manager and housekeeper at the estate.

Mr Cash denies he was their employer and is therefore not liable, and also denies firing them.

The tribunal heard the North Aston estate is held in a family trust and registered in the British Virgin Islands, and that Mr Cash was effectively a “non-paying guest”. Mr Cash said: “To have come across these documents, Francisco must have been going through my private things.”

It has been claimed that the couple were sacked by Mr Cash after he got angry after his meal was served at the wrong time in December 2009.

Mr Cash added: “I did not tell Francisco that he was sacked or fired. Given that Maria had no involvement in the incident, I did not indicate in any way that she should leave the premises.”

The hearing continues.