Famous author J.K. Rowling’s former spouse Jorge Arantes has claimed he was very involved with the first Harry Potter book, but denied holding its manuscript hostage from his ex-wife.

In an episode of the recently launched podcast series The Witch Trials Of J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter novels said she took pages of her first book’s manuscript to photocopy at work.

She did so out of fear that Mr Arantes, who is in his 50s, would hold pages “hostage” as their marriage crumbled. She also said she was afraid he might set the pages on fire.

Rowling, 57, said: “In fact, he knew what that manuscript meant to me because at one point, he took the manuscript and hid it, and that was his hostage.”

Refuting these claims, Mr Arantes was quoted in Mail Online as saying: “I was surprised when I read about this. I deny it. It doesn’t make any sense. Why would I do something like that? Maybe you should ask her.”

Mr Arantes also said: “When she was writing the book, I was participating in it, she was reading it out to me, and I was reading it to her.

“The first book was fascinating; the writing was wonderful, and I always liked it because we shared a passion for literature, and especially literature for children.

“The project was for seven books, and I was very involved with the first one and she knows that. She started writing it when we were together.”

Rowling conceived the idea of Harry Potter, a boy wizard who had magical powers, in 1990 on a delayed train from Manchester to London King’s Cross. In the next few years, she began to plan all seven books of the series, according to her official website jkrowling.com.

With her notes, she moved to northern Portugal to teach English, married Mr Arantes in 1992 and had a daughter with him the next year.

When their marriage ended, she went to live in Edinburgh with her daughter and a suitcase containing the first three chapters of Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, the first of the Harry Potter series. In Edinburgh, Rowling trained as a teacher and taught, but also continued writing in her free time.

Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone was published in 1997, which was followed by six more Harry Potter books. The runaway success of the series and the movie franchise based on the books made Rowling one of the richest and most successful authors.