Millionaire Keith Schellenberg denied a kerb-crawling charge when he appeared in court yesterday.

The former member of the 1956 British Olympic bobsleigh team, powerboat and car racer, one-time Yorkshire county rugby captain, waterskier and controversial laird of a Scottish island, was arrested by police in a red light area on Sunday.

Mr Schellenberg, 73, who bought Lady Serena James's North Yorkshire home after her death in 2000, pleaded not guilty to soliciting for the purposes of prostitution in Middlesbrough.

He was remanded on unconditional bail for a week by Middlesbrough magistrates to allow time for a trail date to be arranged.

It is expected the hearing will be in April or May because of a case backlog.

Three-times wed Mr Schellenberg, who lives at St Nicholas, Richmond, with his wife, Jilly, is a former Liberal Parliamentary candidate.

He drove an eight-litre Bentley in the 1974 London to Mexico Rally, and crashed one in the London to Sydney marathon.

He also owned the Ferrari in which the Spanish Marquis de Portago won the Tour of France and, in 1973, bought Kaiser Bill's 300-tonne steam yacht, Scharnhorn, for charter.

Mr Schellenberg also found himself in the media spotlight following his purchase of Eigg off western Scotland for £265,000 in 1975.

Islanders feared his links with the holiday cottage business would lead to a flood of tourists and bought the land back in 1995 after an anonymous donor gave them £1m towards the asking price.

Mr Schellenberg began again on 2,500 acre Killean Estate, Kintyre, but later decided to return to his native North Yorkshire where he had been a founder of the motor-racing circuit at Croft.

He is also a former chairman of the Ford dealership, Neshams on Teesside, and was an owner of Whitby's Whitehall Shipyard.