* YOU BEEN SNAP* REGGAE REGGAE UWONGO UWONGO "" SAUCE MILLIONAIRE LEVI ROOTS ADMITS ' KADANGANYA DRAGON'S DEN- IT WASN'T MY GRANDMOTHER'S RECIPE"" MBUTA NANGA!!

*MKILETEWA HAPA NA FLORA LYIMO DESIGNER*

Reggae Reggae sauce creator Levi Roots has admitted lying when he told the Dragons' Den that the recipe was handed down to him by his grandmother.

He had actually come up with the sauce himself, and pretended to have been selling it for 15 years as a 'marketing ploy', he told a court today.

However, Mr Roots, 53, dismissed claims that he stole the recipe from his old friend Tony Bailey, a chef, as a 'pack of lies'.

Rivals: Levi Roots, left, is being sued by his former business partner Tony Bailey, right, for a cut of the Reggae Reggae profits;

Former reggae singer Mr Roots has made millions from Reggae Reggae Sauce, which came to fame when it was featured on the BBC2 show in 2007 and two of the business 'Dragons' agreed to invest £50,000 in his company.

When he was on the show, he claimed that the sauce was based on a recipe from his grandmother, and said he had been selling it at the Notting Hill Carnival for more than a decade.



But he now says that neither of those claims - which still appear on the sauce bottle - was true, and admits: 'I was trying to market myself.'

Misleading? Mr Roots confessed that the claims on his sauce's label are 'a marketing ploy'

Today he was giving evidence at the High Court, where he is being sued for more than £600,000 by Mr Bailey, with whom he ran a jerk chicken stall at the carnival for 15 years, and financial adviser Sylvester Williams.

Mr Bailey and Mr Williams are suing Mr Roots, whose real name is Keith Graham, for a third share each from the sales of Reggae Reggae sauce.

However, the former reggae star says he created the sauce from a basic recipe, and was trying to 'recreate' the flavour of his grandmother's original jerk chicken seasoning.

He also claimed that while the sauce wasn't sold at the Notting Hill Carnival, he and Mr Bailey sold jerk chicken and people came to their stall just to see Levi Roots himself.

Mr Roots claimed his story about his sauce being 'the taste of Notting Hill Carnival' was in reference to his reputation at the Caribbean street celebration.

Reading from the sauce label, Ian Glen QC, acting for the claimants, said: 'On the bottle of sauce, it says "Our family in Jamaica have been blending home-made Jerk sauce since way back, and for years it's been the taste of London's Notting Hill Carnival." Is that true?'

Mr Roots replied: 'No, that's not true. It's a marketing ploy.

'When I was trying to market the sauce, I thought of every conceivable way that I was connected with music and the Notting Hill Carnival.

'I cooked all that in a bag together and tried my best to make a story about it.'

When Mr Glen asked about the claim that it was his grandmother's recipe, he admitted that this was also untrue.

Dragon: Mr Roots told investor Peter Jones, left, that he had been selling the sauce for 15 years;

Mr Roots said: 'My way of trying to market the sauce when I started out was to put in all my experience with people in my life and my family.

'I was trying to create the flavour that my grandmother used to cook for me. How she used to do what she called relish.

'I was trying to recreate that flavour and that is the reason why my grandmother is on it. I thought it apt to put her legacy in there.'

Mr Glen also read from the transcript of Mr Roots' appearance on Dragons' Den, which convinced Peter Jones and Richard Farleigh to invest in the product.

He said: 'You were saying that you had been successfully selling Reggae Reggae sauce for 15 years, is that right?'

Mr Roots replied: 'It's my connection to Notting Hill Carnival was more what I was talking about. This was my marketing ploy.'

Mr Glen said: 'But the sauce didn't have a 15-year reputation?'

Mr Roots said: 'It's not about sauce, it's about Levi Roots. It [the carnival stall] was only popular because it was a Levi Roots stall.'

Carnival: Mr Roots said the stall run by him and Mr Bailey was a success because of his own fame, not Reggae Reggae sauce;

He also admitted lying in his first cookbook by denying his gangland past.

But he said: 'I was desperately trying to tell my story in a cookbook, which was totally unrelated to what I was now, and I found it very difficult to tell the story.

'I wouldn't say it was a lie - I was trying to market myself at the time. I was trying to market myself as Levi Roots.'

He admitted having a business agreement with Mr Williams, but said it had been abandoned before his appearance on Dragons' Den.

Mr Roots added: 'Since Dragons' Den I realised what I have become to the public. It's become much more that just a sauce.

'The whole thing about Levi Roots has become so important, especially for black African Caribbean people.'

Mr Bailey and Mr Williams claim breach of confidence, over the sauce recipe, and breach of contract.

Mr Roots denies their claims and insists the pair have no rights in the sauce or the business.

The hearing continues.