Did Sir Philip Green sabotage a deal to save BHS?

Dominic Chappell turned up on Wednesday well aware he had serious questions to answer about the money he took out of BHS.

To the amazement of MPs he refused to provide the details.

Meanwhile the BHS management team that Chappell appointed launched a remarkable attack on his integrity and accused him of funneling at least £7m out of the cash-strapped business for his personal use.

"It was theft" spluttered Darren Topp, the former BHS chief executive. "This was money that should have been used for wages."

Dominic Chappell admits he's received money from BHS but insists he earned it, as payment for the time, energy and effort he made in attempting to turn the business around.

Chappell was much more forthcoming at setting out the role Sir Phillip Green played in BHS over the last 13 months.

You may recall that Sir Philip Green sold BHS for £1 last year but Chappell points out that he retained a floating charge over the business of £35m and alleges he used the debt to interfere in the way BHS was run.

Chappell told MPs that Green used the money he was owed "like a stick to beat us with", seeking to influence company decisions before ultimately calling in the debt in an attempt to "rail-road" a last-gasp rescue deal to sell BHS to Mike Ashley of Sports Direct.

ITV News has seen a copy of the letter that was sent to Dominic Chappell by Philip Green's Arcadia Group demanding "immediate payment" of £35,000,000.

It's dated April 22nd, three days before Duff & Phelps were appointed as administrators.

According to Chappell, Sir Philip went "absolutely insane" when he found out Mike Ashley was in talks to buy BHS.

On Tuesday, in a separate select committee hearing, Mike Ashley said he "would have loved" to buy BHS.

We'll hear Sir Philip Green's account of what happened next Wednesday when he appears before MPs.

Tonight a source at Arcadia told me that when the letter was sent by Paul Budge, the Finance Director, he had "no knowledge of any rescue deal".

The source explained the letter was sent because members of the board, among them Chappell, had admitted that BHS was insolvent and I was told there was a concern that "unless the business went into administration staff would not get paid the following week".

Sir Philip Green was perfectly entitled to ask for his money back and, given the state of the business, had every reason to worry it was at risk.

But the timing is interesting.

Was Sports Direct close to sealing a deal? Could administration have been avoided? Mike Ashley?