“A British man accused by Microsoft of spamming has told the BBC it is a case of mistaken identity and he will fight to clear his name. Simon Grainger, who lives on Merseyside, was one of 15 people around the world targeted by the company in what is the most high-profile attack so far on the huge wave of unwanted e-mail clogging up the internet.

“But the 43-year-old telecoms engineer insists that, in his case at least, Microsoft has got the wrong man - and he is now in a David and Goliath contest with the US software giant.”

“After listening to his story Steve Lindford of Spamhaus said, ‘I’m 98% convinced that Microsoft has got the wrong man.’”