REDKNAPP WINS DAMAGES OVER RAID

Their search warrant was invalid and the High Court said procedural failures by City of London Police in applying for it were "wholly unacceptable".

Lord Justice Latham said: "The obtaining of a search warrant is never to be treated as a formality. It authorises the invasion of a person's home."

The judge, sitting with Mr Justice Underhill, heard that the 6am search of Redknapp's house in Sandbanks, Poole, Dorset, last November was caught on camera by Sun photographers, as was his departure from Chichester police station after being bailed later the same day.

In a judicial review hearing, Redknapp and his wife Sandra challenged a decision by City of London Magistrates' Court to issue the warrant, and its execution by City of London Police. The judges declared the warrant was issued unlawfully and quashed it.

The police were also ordered to pay 25% of the Redknapps' legal costs, unofficially estimated at around £10,000.

The couple's solicitor, Mark Spragg, said after the ruling: "This was an outrageous abuse of power by the police who ignored the rule book and executed an unlawful search warrant at 6am in the full glare of media coverage which they no doubt organised or at least did not discourage."

Only Mrs Redknapp was at home at the time of the raid. Her husband was on his way back from Germany. On his arrival, he voluntarily attended Chichester police station, where he was immediately arrested and detained for seven hours.

Redknapp held a press conference following his release on bail and spoke of his "bitter disappointment" at the way the raid and his arrest had been handled. He said he believed he had only been arrested because he was a "high-profile" figure.

A total of nine people are on bail in connection with the continuing police inquiry, which has involved searches at a number of football club premises, including Portsmouth. The police strongly denied tipping off the media in advance of the raid on the Redknapps' home.