A Thetford amputee and a former Diss amputee who started a talent agency for limbless stuntmen and actors after meeting on Hollywood blockbusters are involved in a legal battle over who owns the company.

Eastern Daily Press: Olaf Jones outside High Court in break in a hearing in his dispute with former friend John Pickup Photo Paul KeoghIt involves Amputees in Action Ltd in 2004.Olaf Jones outside High Court in break in a hearing in his dispute with former friend John Pickup Photo Paul KeoghIt involves Amputees in Action Ltd in 2004. (Image: Paul Keogh)

Olaf Jones, 52, from Thetford, and Tony Tomlinson, 54 and who lived in Diss in 2004, are involved in a High Court case with fellow amputee John Pickup over the formation of Amputees in Action Ltd in 2004.

The three men, who were friends, were all veterans in the amputee stunt world when Amputees in Action Ltd was formed in 2004.

They appeared with Brad Pitt, Russell Crowe and Tom Hanks in films including Troy, Gladiator and Saving Private Ryan.

Mr Tomlinson, who now lives in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire and Mr Jones say it was always intended the three of them, with the now deceased Paul Burns, would be equal partners.

But instead Mr Pickup, 45, of Newbury, Berkshire registered himself as sole director and broke a promise to change the records to include them, they claim.

Mr Tomlinson, who has one leg, told the High Court: 'We were four friends. We had been in movies together, we had had drinks together and we knew each other well.

'It was a verbal agreement between four friends who knew each other and trusted each other.

'We did everything we could to make it a success, and it was a success.

'Then, at the end of March 2007, we are suddenly kicked out unceremoniously, without a by your leave.'

At the centre of the case is a meeting which followed at Mr Tomlinson's then home in Diss in March 2004, when the agency plan was discussed.

All three were present, along with Mr Burns, who died last year.

They discussed a name for the business, their roles and the four-way split, Mr Tomlinson told Judge Patrick McCahill QC.

But Mr Pickup began making decisions without asking the others, including changing the company secretary, he claimed.

Mr Tomlinson and Mr Jones are asking the judge to make a ruling which would give them an equal shareholding in the business.

Contesting the claim, Mr Pickup, who has one arm, says the men were only ever 'freelance self-employed contractors', performing specific roles for the business.

It was never intended they would be directors of the company. The hearing continues.