The case shed a fascinating light not only on the private sexual preferences of a public figure but on the hidden world of the BDSM - Bondage, Domination and Sado-Masochism - community, and the attitudes of women who sell their services to those like Max Mosley.

Four of the five women involved stressed how BDSM placed a strong emphasis on consensual behaviour, and was about roleplay and fantasies - as one said, like "little boys playing cowboys and Indians".

The court did not hear from the fifth woman - later revealed to be the wife of an MI5 officer - who filmed proceedings for the News of the World. The judge was told she could not give evidence because of her "emotional and mental state".

Known in court as Miss E, she filmed the party with a camera hidden in her bra on the promise of £20,000 from the newspaper - it ended up paying £12,000. There were rumours she had gone missing and a subpoena would be needed; her failure to attend was the final blow to the newspaper's hopes.

How the wife of an MI5 surveillance officer could practise as a BDSM dominatrix, running a website on which she advertised her services, was never answered. Her husband's job was discovered when Mr Mosley hired private investigators to look into the background of those who had betrayed him.

Her husband, who has resigned, has refused to say if he was part of the sting, or how he kept his employers in the dark about her activities. He did tell a Sunday newspaper the case had a " devastating" effect on his wife and MI5 had "gone mental". His wife is now reviled on websites of the S&M scene and ostracised from her old haunts and contacts.

Miss A, a 40-year-old divorced mother of two, was a BDSM "facilitator". Comfortable in the witness box, she said Mr Mosley was one of her best customers, had flown her to Monaco for dinner and had paid £35,000 to rent the Chelsea basement flat.

Her events normally had roleplaying themes - German guards and prisoners was just one - and were acted out on stage at large gatherings or at intimate private parties

To titters in the court, she told of a "judicial" event she had put on in April last year. Being beaten with canes was "the best feeling in the world", she told Mr Justice Eady. Mr Mosley would attend these events, usually in north

London, in a mask and using the pseudonym "Mike". He spoke of Miss A's exalted position on the "scene" and said he trusted her implicitly.

Miss B is German and lives in the Midlands. She was dressed "fr‰ulein fashion" with blouse buttoned to the neck and gave evidence in correct, clipped English with a heavy Teutonic accent - the one Mr Mosley said he found such an erotic thrill. She told how she bought a Luftwaffe uniform at Camden Market, originally for a concert, but it happened to fit the afternoon's roleplaying.

She had met Mr Mosley at a party, and when the fluent German speaker used her mother tongue the idea of the entertainment was born.

Miss C was a bundle of nerves in court, and, as the last witness, was asked to contribute little. Miss D laughed about the fun of being beaten and wept at Mr Mosley's "betrayal". On her website, illustrated with naked photos, she attributes her interest in prisonstyle S&M to her years at boarding school. Her fans have rallied to her. "John NI" wrote on her blog: "You ladies deserve a medal. You are fighting for us all."