But this is not fiction, and the case continues with even greater intensity and publicity than it did before. It is important that the wild rush to judgment that originally tore this man's reputation to shreds, before a word of the evidence against him had been tested in court, is not now accompanied by a similar rush to judgment against the woman. It is possible, as her lawyer Kenneth Thompson continued to claim outside the courtroom yesterday, that she made false statements in her asylum application and was also the victim of a sexual assault in a hotel room, of which he proceeded to give graphic details. The system of criminal justice in America, which allows lawyers to speak freely outside the courtroom about the evidence before it is presented in court, does little to staunch the trial by media to which the case has been subjected on both sides of the Atlantic.

This is now set to get more public as the woman will soon waive her right to anonymity and speak about what she claimed happened to her. Her defence maintains that the only lies she told which directly concern the case are changes to her account about where she fled after the incident took place. However, if – as widely reported – she had a telephone conversation with a man charged with drug possession in which she discussed the possible benefits of pursuing charges, that alone could establish reasonable doubt about her story, as it could be proved that she had a financial motive for pursuing them.

The resulting case is, as an official said, a mess. It is one which besmirches everyone connected with it. The woman could potentially be charged with lying to a grand jury as well as suffering what she claims happened in the room. The accused, however the case unfolds, has lost his job, his reputation and, in the immediate term at least, a political future.