NIGHTclub owner Stefan King told a court yesterday that a past romance with black pop singer Sinitta proved he was not a racist.

Mr King, a 37-year-old leisure and property boss, told Glasgow Sheriff Court that his affair with Sinitta was not the only one he had had with black girls. He admitted that when he was approached by a newspaper which eventually ran a front page story headed ''King of Clubs Bar on Blacks'', he gave its reporter a photograph of him and Sinitta. Mr King said: ''I am not a kiss and tell guy, but I decided that the only way to show just how ridiculous the allegation was, was to divulge to the world my relationship with Sinitta, which because of her pop star background, I had kept very much a secret at her request.

''I also had several relationships with other black women.''

Mr King and his former company King City Leisure, now known as G1 Group plc, have been taken to court by the Commission for Racial Equality. It claims that his former Glasgow city centre cafe bar, Yo Yo, and the Archaos nightclub next door operated a racist policy against Asians.

Mr King's romance with singer Sinitta emerged when he was cross examined by advocate Raj Jandoo, representing the Commission for Racial Equality.

He said it was absurd that he or anyone working for him should give orders to persecute a Much persecuted people.

The hearing continues.