In the loop: Freeman's greatest acquittals... and one that got away

Name: Lee Ryan

Charge: The former singer with the boy band Blue was accused of assaulting two celebrity snappers, and breaking their cameras, after "lashing out" when they photographed him leaving the 10 Rooms nightclub in the West End with a 23-year-old brunette he'd met inside.

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Plea: Ryan's claim of self-defence was enough to see off the assault charge. He was, however, forced to pay £500 compensation to the paparazzi for criminal damage to their equipment.

Name: David Beckham

Charge: "Goldenballs" was banned from driving in December 1999 after his Ferrari was caught in a police trap doing 76mph along a 50mph stretch of the A34 near Cheadle.

Plea: The footballer's conviction was later overturned during an appeal hearing, where Freeman argued that Beckham was being chased by the paparazzi.

Name: Dean Gaffney

Charge: The former EastEnders actor was accused of doing a whopping 131mph on the M40 in Warwickshire in June 2006. If convicted, he faced a potential jail sentence.

Plea: Freeman noticed that a police officer in the case had failed to turn up at court – thereby making the prosecution case flawed.

Name: Sir Alex Ferguson

Charge: In October 1999, the Manchester United manager was prosecuted for avoiding a traffic jam by driving his BMW along the hard shoulder of the M602 in Eccles, Greater Manchester.

Plea: Freeman argued that Sir Alex was using the hard shoulder because of an emergency: he was suffering from diarrhoea and needed to reach a toilet.

Name: Colin Montgomerie

Charge: The roly-poly golfer appeared before Staines magistrates in September 2004 after being accused of driving his Mercedes at 96mph down the A3 near his Surrey home.

Plea: After the officer who had stopped "Monty" failed to appear in court, Freeman argued that the prosecution had failed properly to prove that his client had been driving the vehicle.

Name: Matthew Vaughn

Charge: In December 2005, the film-director husband of supermodel Claudia Schiffer was accused of driving at 95mph on the M11 in Essex.

Plea: Freeman argued that the case against Vaughn was flawed, due to a mistake in police procedure.

Name: Dwight Yorke

Charge: In January this year, the boulevardier and footballer faced a speeding ban after being accused of doing 85mph in a 70mph zone.

Plea: Yorke had refused to sign police documentation at the time of the incident, disagreeing with the speed gun's reading. In court, Freeman successfully argued that the speed gun hadn't been used under the right conditions.

Name: Ronnie O'Sullivan

Charge: Drink-driving. In December 2001, the snooker champ was accused of using his Porsche to race two women along Stratford High Street, east London, at 2am. He'd failed three breath tests, refused a blood test (citing a phobia of needles) and been unable to provide a urine sample.

Plea: Freeman successfully argued that O'Sullivan had been unable to give a urine sample because his depression made him too stressed to urinate.

Name: Wayne Rooney

Charge: Aged just 18, the England striker had been convicted, in his absence, of driving without insurance, failing to produce an insurance certificate, and failing to produce his licence when cops pulled over his BMW in Liverpool on 6 May 2004.

Plea: All three convictions were overturned due to an "administrative error". Freeman argued that his law firm had sent a fax requesting an adjournment of the original case but the court had not bundled it together with the papers in time for the original hearing.

Name: Caprice Bourret

Charge: The former underwear model was found to be one-and-a-half times over the drink-drive limit, after being stopped in London after having drunk two bottles of red wine.

Plea: Freeman argued that the breathalyser reading had been distorted by antibiotics that Bourret was taking for the bladder infection cystitis. It didn't work: she was banned from driving for a year and ordered to pay a fine of £2,500.