The company responsible for the helicopter that crashed outside Leicester City's stadium, killing the club's owner and four others, should not be given recordings of the flight's final moments, the High Court has been told.

The club's owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha was killed in the crash alongside pilot Eric Swaffer, his partner and co-pilot Izabela Lechowicz, and passengers Nusara Suknami and Kaveporn Punpare.

Vichai's family is seeking compensation and damages from Italian aerospace giant Leonardo S.p.A. valued at £2.15bn.

Leonardo said it needs the flight data to defend the claim, while lawyers for the family called the request a "fishing expedition".

The Leonardo AW169, manufactured by the Italian company, spun out of control after it took off from the pitch following a match between Leicester City and West Ham on 27 October 2018.

Last year, a jury inquest in Leicester concluded that the deaths were accidental.

At a hearing at the High Court in London on Thursday, Leonardo applied for disclosure of data from the flight's data recorder and cockpit voice recorder from the government's Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB).

Lawyers for the company argued the data is needed in order for it to defend itself against the family's claim.

They said the helicopter was not defective, arguing the crash occurred due to "unreasonable acts or omissions" by the pilot.

Tom Bird, for the company, told the court: "Disclosure is necessary to ensure a fair trial of what the claimant's lawyers have described as 'the largest fatal accident claim in English history'.

"We say the data is relevant to the material issues in this case including the fatal accident and its causes."

In written submissions, Philip Shepherd KC, for the family, said the accident had been investigated by the AAIB for five years and during the investigation Leonardo had "full access to all the data which it now demands, and carried out many of the tests which it now says it wants to redo".

He said the data would not provide any defence for the company, adding: "Leonardo is on a fishing expedition hoping that even after a painstaking five-year investigation, something might turn up."

In court, he said the company was "playing with people's lives" by seeking to dispute the conclusions of the AAIB investigation.

Keith Morton KC, representing the AAIB, told the court the accident had already been "extensively investigated" and disclosure of the material would not assist Leonardo's case.

He said: "There is strong evidence of harm which may well arise as a result of disclosure, in circumstances where there is no benefit of disclosure."

In written submissions Nicholas Yeo KC, for the British Airline Pilots' Association which represents the majority of UK pilots, said international law states cockpit recordings should not be disclosed outside of safety investigations.

He said permitting disclosure of cockpit recordings outside of safety investigations would have an "adverse impact" for pilots and their trust that such data will not be disclosed.

He added this may affect co-operation of UK and international pilots in safety investigations.

Yeo said Leonardo was proposing to analyse the "inflection" of the flight crew's voices "in order to advance a case that blames the deceased pilot-in-command for the crash".

Mrs Justice O'Farrell is expected to reserve judgment and deliver a ruling at a later date.

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