The Irish-born convert to Judaism who never fitted in

As a convert to the Jewish faith, Brian Maccaba has spent 15 years trying to gain acceptance into its inner circle.

At the end of his slander action he knows his image within the publicityshy Orthodox Jewish community has suffered irreparable damage.

Many will never forgive him for dragging one of their spiritual leaders through the public courts but that is only the beginning of his problems.

In a culture in which adultery is akin to incest he was accused of sleeping with three married Jewish women, offering $1million for Nathalie Attar, sexually assaulting her twice and then propositioning her 19-year-old sister.

According to his friends Mr Maccaba, who is worth an estimated ?20 million from his software business, has found the case a depressing and chastening experience.

Born Bryen McCabe, the son of a devout Catholic family from a middleclass suburb of Dublin, he decided to abandon his faith in favour of Judaism at the age of 25.

Having read 200 books on the subject as an "intellectual pursuit" he discovered his research had provoked something more significant when he was confronted by a barrage of anti-Semitic comments from an associate.

He blurted out: "How can you say such things? I'm Jewish." He describes this lie as a "watershed moment". Two years later he was spotted sitting sheepishly at the back of a Dublin synagogue.

Over the next two years he was a regular worshipper and Judaism became the guiding force of his life.

For his Catholic wife Mary, the university sweetheart and mother of his two sons he had married aged 21, it was too much to bear. As he prepared to convert formally in New York, the divorce courts set about dissolving their marriage. Meanwhile his business, Cognotec, selling specialist software to the finance industry, was going from strength to strength.

Following his conversion in 1989 he moved to London. On a business trip to Tel Aviv he met his second wife Ruth Sulimani, an Israeli Orthodox Jew of Iranian extraction.

While even his enemies admit his observance of the Orthodox lifestyle is fastidious, Mr Maccaba has remained unable to gain full acceptance into London's Jewish community.

With around ?3 million donated to charitable causes his money certainly bought him supporters and a small fortune went in establishing a rabbinical seminary, the Hechal Leah Synagogue, in Hendon and the nearby Beth Yosef School.

But his Irish roots, the fact of his conversion and his sheer flamboyance counted heavily against him. In a world where many of his faith refuse to read newspapers or watch television, Mr Maccaba's regular enjoyment of alcohol, his fanatical love for the Irish national football and rugby teams and his penchant for dressing up did not endear him to some influential figures.

Some openly sneer at his transformation from a Gaelic poetry-writing Irish nationalist to diligent Jew.

Then, in 1993 he met school teacher Mrs Attar. Mr Maccaba befriended her and her husband Alain, doing them favours such as lending the couple ?7,800 for the deposit on their first house - a semi in Mill Hill.

In return, mother of three Mrs Attar began paying off the money by teaching Mr Maccaba's daughter Hebrew at his ?1.5 million home in Hendon.

Mr Maccaba and Mrs Attar started exchanging poetry and spent hours alone together or talking on the phone.

After their relationship soured Mrs Attar - by now working at Beth Yosef - found herself accused of dressing inappropriately at the school and questions were also raised over her handling of ?845 from a fund she managed there.

These were more than chance misfortunes, it was said. They were said to be evidence of a rich man's revenge. She resigned from the school in September 2000 and in December took her allegations of sexual misbehaviour to Dayan Lichtenstein along with a sheaf of poems and letters as evidence. Within six months Mr Maccaba said he found himself a virtual outcast.