This is a story of ambition, deceit, venom and what turned out to be very expensive skulduggery.

It depicts a major story that has rumbled on in the press since 2018, about the scandal surrounding the attempt by his College to remove and sack the Very Reverend Dr Martyn Percy, the Dean of Christ Church, Oxford.

At one level this reads like a very pacey crime novel – packed with detail which most people will deem unbelievable. The College spent £2.5 million on legal costs and in addition had to pay Percy £1.5 million in damages on top of Percy's own legal costs. The Charity Commission was called in, as were two High Court Judges and finally the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University.

This is a story that has to be told for the public good because the episode is symptomatic of something rotten in the English establishment with consequences for the Church and State as a whole.

Dr Percy has survived this dreadful episode with fortitude and astonishing courage. The inner circle at Christ Church who wanted him removed included two Professors of Divinity no less, but the accusations that publicly flew around about Percy are truly shocking – insanity, sexual misdemeanours and pilfering money for a start.

Here is the true story of this episode, written by a top Times journalist, with the full cooperation of the Dean.