He is one of Scotland's most successful artists, with his dream-like paintings selling for more than £18m at auction.

But now Peter Doig, an acclaimed artist born in Edinburgh but who grew up in Trinidad and Canada, is at the centre of a £3.8m court case where he has prove he did not paint a painting.

The owner of the painting is a Canadian former corrections officer Robert Fletcher, 62, who claims it is by Doig, and was painted when he was a teenager.

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He claims he bought it from Doig when the artist was imprisoned for possession of the drug LSD at a Canadian detention facility in the 1970s.

Doig denies the work is by him, and has to try and prove it at a trial next month at the United States District Court for Northern Illinois.

Mr Fletcher's case contends that Doig is either confused or lying and that his denial has scuppered a plan to sell the work - a large landscape - for what would likely be a sizeable amount of money.

The painting is signed 'Pete Doige 76', but the artist's lawyers claims this is likely the mark of Peter Edward Doige, who had served time at the same facility, and also painted - he died in 2012.

Doig, 57, contends he was never near the facility, the Thunder Bay Correctional Center, about 15 hours northwest of Toronto.

"This case is a scam, and I’m being forced to jump through hoops to prove my whereabouts over 40 years ago," he said.

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The plaintiffs, who include the correction officer and the art dealer who agreed to help him sell the work, are suing the painter for at least $5m [£3.8m] in damages and seek a court declaration that it is an authentic Doig.

Doig says in court papers that he did not paint before 1979 and has never been near Thunder Bay.

He says in the papers: "If I had painted that painting when I was 16, I would admit it."

The painting is untitled, and is acrylic on canvas.

"I am 100 percent convinced that this is the man and that this is the painting I own,” Mr. Fletcher said in an interview.

He became the Mr Doige's parole officer and also helped him find a job through the Seafarers International Union.

He and a gallery in Chicago believe the painting contains many similarities to Mr Doig's other work, including landscape, water, logs sticking out of the lake, and white lichen on the trees.

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Mr Doig lived in Toronto in 1976 and says he has never been to Thunder Bay or been in prison.

"I did not begin to paint on canvas until late 1979. (Before that, I had done some pencil and ink drawings on paper),” he said in court papers.

The sister of the other Mr Doige, Marilyn Doige Bovard, said she believes Mr Fletcher has made a mistake.

"I believe that Mr. Fletcher is mistaken and that he actually met my brother, Peter, who I believe did this painting,” she said in a court declaration.

She said the work’s desert scene may show the area in Arizona where her mother moved after a divorce and where her brother spent some time.