A London law firm has withdrawn from high-profile cases against alleged illegal file-sharers because of ‘criminal attacks’ and ‘bomb threats’.

ACS:Law had been pursuing 26 cases on behalf of its client MediaCAT, which alleges that its copyright has been infringed by illegal file-sharers. But in a statement read to the patent court in London by MediaCAT’s barrister this week, Andrew Crossley, sole principal at the firm, said he had now ceased all such work.

He said: ‘I have been subject to criminal attack. My emails have been hacked. I have had death threats and bomb threats.’

Crossley denied claims by some of his critics that he has sought payouts from suspects without intending to take the cases to court. He said: ‘It has always been my intention to litigate and, but for the fact that I have ceased this work, my intention was to litigate forcefully in these 26 cases.’

At a hearing earlier this month, MediaCAT sought to drop the cases, but Judge Birss QC refused to allow it to do so in all but one case. Birss said: ‘I am getting the impression with every twist and turn since I started looking at these cases that there is a desire to avoid any judicial scrutiny.’

ACS:Law was subject to criticism by consumer group Which? after it sent out thousands of letters to alleged file-sharers asking recipients to pay a £500 fine or go to court. Crossley is the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. He has always denied acting other than in accordance with the code of conduct.

Manchester firm Railli said it is seeking to gather claimants for a potential group action by people who may have felt harassed after receiving a letter from ACS:Law.

ACS:Law is currently being investigated by the Information Commissoner following a data breach last September, when the firm was the victim of a cyber attack that resulted in emails and details of the individuals the firm was pursuing being published on its website.