Really upset

Sir Cliff Richard and his team left Mr Justice Mann in no doubt about how miserable the BBC made the singer feel with their coverage of the search of his Sunningdale apartment. The 77-year-old chose to stand during his 90-minute appearance in the witness box, giving his Greatest Hits from a 22-page witness statement - and estimated that fighting his case had cost him £3.4m so far.

"Of all the people that might have done this to me, I would never have dreamed that it would be the BBC. It would never have crossed my mind. I have always had a great deal of respect for the BBC... It is an institution, respected around the world. I suppose it is for this reason that I thought the BBC would absolutely play by the rules... When all is said and done, I am left with the overwhelming feeling that what the BBC did to me was very wrong. I was portrayed as a sex offender around the world before I had even been questioned by the police. I had to watch on TV my home being searched by the police.

"Later, they refused to apologise to me, refused to recognise that they had done anything wrong at all, and even boasted that it was scoop of the year.

“Everywhere I have ever been, I felt my name was smeared,” he said. “The police didn’t do that, the BBC did.”