15.30 We are closing the live blog for today. You can follow the latest reaction to Shrien Dewani's acquittal on the Telegraph World News page.

14.29 Dewani was "calm and relaxed" as he left court, reports Aislinn Laing:

Police officer in court tells me Dewani was "calm and relaxed" as he left court and driven back to Valkenberg Hospital, and paused to take a selfie on his phone with the custody officer who guarded him during his time in the dock.

Police who dealt with Dewani at court said he was always "very polite" and thanked them all as he left court for the last time yesterday.

14.02 Aislinn Laing understands that Shrien Dewani is expected to stay at the Valkenberg Psychiatric Hospital tonight, and may leave South Africa tomorrow.

Dewani, from Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol, has been held at the Valkenberg Hospital on the outskirts of Cape Town since he was extradited in April this year.

13.10 Here is a recap of today's events so far:

• Shrien Dewani has been cleared of organising the murder of his wife, Anni, on their honeymoon in Cape Town in 2010

• Judge Jeanette Traverso dismissed the case, arguing that the state's key witness, taxi driver Zola Tongo, gave testimony "riddled with contradictions" and it was difficult to know where "the lies end and the truth begins"

• Anni Dewani's family said they were "deeply disappointed" with the judge's decision, especially because Shrien never had to take the stand to give his version of events

• Dewani is expected to be released and could fly home to Britain later on Monday

12.30 Aislinn Laing has further details from Anni's family's statement outside court:

<noframe>Twitter: Aislinn Laing - Anni's sister Ami: "Not knowing what happened to my little sister is going to haunt me, my family, my parents, for the rest of our lives."</noframe>

Here is a video of the family's statement:

12.08 The judge confirmed Monde Mbolombo, a self-confessed "link man" in the plot, would no longer be granted immunity for his part in the plot.

The hotel porter admitted telling lies to the court to protect himself when the investigation first took hold. He had initially been granted immunity by prosecutors in return for being a state witness.

But the judge said: "As his evidence progressed it became more and more clear of his involvement."

It will now be up to prosecutors to decide whether Mbolombo should face criminal proceedings.

12.00 South African National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Nathi Ncube told reporters: "Justice is indeed about making sure that where there is a case we successfully prosecute it and where we think there is sufficient evidence to take the matter to court we do so.

"We have successfully prosecuted three people who participated - not just participated but were actually part of the planning and executed the plan.

"It is unfortunate that Mr Dewani has been acquitted because we believe that he was involved.

"And by the way, the court did not find that he was innocent, the court said it could not rely on the evidence given by three witnesses who themselves had been convicted of the crime."

Mr Ncube also denied that the case had collapsed because of a "shoddy police investigation".

He said: "The judgment centres around evidence that was given by three people. Nothing has been said about the police, nothing was said about how the prosecution could have done better.

"The fact of the matter is that we were relying on people who were themselves involved and implicated in the case."

11.52 Aislinn Laing has sent the following update from court:

As the judgement was read out, Shrien Dewani showed no obvious reaction. But as the judge swept from court, his family leapt up to embrace each other, his brother Preyen and wife Kripa in tears. Both declined to comment when approached as they walked to the chambers of his barrister François Van Zyl.

Also in tears was the lead detective in the case, Captain Paul Hendrickse, who spent four years putting a prosecution together as the South African authorities fought for Mr Dewani's extradition.

Speaking on the steps of the court, Mrs Dewani's family said they had more questions now than when they arrived for the start of the trial eight weeks ago.

11.35 Here is a timeline of the key events in the Dewani trial.

11.15 In a statement outside court, the family of Anni Dewani said: "We feel really, really sad because we have not heard the full story. Shrien lived a double life."

Last week the Hindochas begged Dewani to "tell the world what happened the night she died", with her brother Anish imploring him to take to the witness stand and tell his story for the first time.

<noframe>Twitter: Aislinn Laing - Hindocha family: "We are deeply disappointed. We came here looking for answers and all we got was more questions."</noframe>

11.06 The ruling brings to an end a four-year wait for Dewani and his family to clear his name - a battle which has included lengthy spells in mental health units, lurid allegations about his private life, and fighting extradition from the UK to face justice.

11.02 Aislinn Laing has this from court:

<noframe>Twitter: Aislinn Laing - I asked a police officer who is looking after the Hindochas how they are. "You don't want to know," she said. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23DewaniTrial" target="_blank">#DewaniTrial</a></noframe>

10.54 Judge Jeannette Traverso said that prosecutors arguments had "fallen far below" the level needed to secure conviction, paving the way for Dewani to walk free.

Shrien Dewani leaves the dock a free man (SKY NEWS)

10.46 The accused is found not guilty on this charge. Dewani is free to return home.

<noframe>Twitter: Aislinn Laing - Shrien Dewani shows no emotion as the judge concludes that he can go home. Anni's family also remain impassive, but can hear tearful sighs.</noframe>

<noframe>Twitter: Aislinn Laing - Judge formally declares Shrien Dewani "not guilty", calls for Monde Mbolombo's arrest then sweeps from court. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23DewaniTrial" target="_blank">#DewaniTrial</a></noframe>

10.40 The judge says she "has heard" the "plight" of Anni's family. But she says she cannot be swayed by public opinion.

<noframe>Twitter: Aislinn Laing - Judge seems to be wrapping up, and it's clear where she's going. Keeps saying the state "attempted to persuade me" <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23DewaniTrial" target="_blank">#DewaniTrial</a></noframe>

10.38 Judge Traverso refuses to grant Mbolombo indemnity.

10.36 The judge is now summarising her arguments. She says evidence of three key witnesses is contradictory and all three are intelligent enough to twist their versions.

"They may have been amateurs in arranging a hit... but I do not believe they are so stupid to take part in a hit [for such a small amount of money]."

<noframe>Twitter: Aislinn Laing - Judge says she cannot believe that any of them were "stupid" enough to agree to kill someone for R15,000 (&#163;900). <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23DewaniTrial" target="_blank">#DewaniTrial</a></noframe>

10.33 As he evidence progressed, it became clear... he played an important role [in this incident].

10.21 Judge Traverso has moved on to the evidence of Monde Mbolombo as an accomplice witness. She says he admitted lying.

<noframe>Twitter: Aislinn Laing - Judge turns to evidence of "middle man" Monde Mbolombo, who turned out to play a much bigger role in what happened. Says he admitted lying.</noframe>

10.17 Anni Dewani’s affluent Swedish family have spoken of their hope of eventually hearing “the full story” from her husband. An acquittal, they have said, will represent “a lifetime of torture”.

10.10

<noframe>Twitter: Aislinn Laing - Judge on the evidence of the hitman, Qwabe:"During cross-examination it became clear that Mr Qwabe was a self-confessed liar." <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23DewaniTrial" target="_blank">#DewaniTrial</a></noframe>

10.05 Aislinn Laing has this summary from court:

At this stage, no one apart from Judge Traverso and the two assessors sitting either side of her in court, who will help her to reach her judgement, know what that is.

But it hasn't stopped fevered speculation about what it will be, and a frantic scouring of her words for some clue as to whether Mr Dewani will be on his way home soon, or taking the witness stand in his defence.

The judge has said the case will stand or fall on the evidence of the taxi driver Zola Tongo, the only person who has given a first-hand account of Mr Dewani's involvement.

She has already spent a half an hour tearing that evidence apart, saying it was "riddled with inconsistencies", in parts "virtually incomprehensible" and his version given in court "totally irreconcilable" with what he had said in his affidavit to police.

She has raised the fact that Mr Tongo either shrugged, blamed mistakes on the police affidavit or the court record, as well as seemingly inventing evidence to patch up bits of his story that was not believable. To the obvious chagrin of the two prosecutors sitting in their usual spots in court today, the judge is being particularly meticulous in tearing this evidence apart. On the other side of the bench, Mr Dewani's barrister Francois Van Zyl is sitting with his eyes closed, nodding fervently from time to time.

Although the judge has also made clear that the credibility of witnesses in a decision whether to throw a case out early should play only a limited part, it's hard to see how she can decide that there is enough evidence for her to convict when she clearly doesn't believe a word said by the state's key witness.

Which leads us to the question of what happens next. Outside court, rumours swirl of a last-minute, urgent application for Mr Dewani to be kept in the country while the state appeals the judge's decision. I've been told that Mr Dewani's family has a private plane awaiting him on the tarmac at Cape Town's nearby airport, or that there's a safe-house where he'll be squirreled away until the inevitable storm that would follow his acquittal at this stage dies down.

In court today is the national spokesman for the National Prosecuting Authority, which fought so hard for Mr Dewani's extradition back to South Africa and has put together the case against him. If I were a betting woman, I think he might find himself facing some fairly tough questions fairly soon.

10.00 The judge says there are aspects of Tongo's evidence that incriminate Dewani, but his evidence was of such poor quality it is hard to know where the lies end and the truth begins. She now moves on to the evidence of Qwabe and Mbolombo.

<noframe>Twitter: Aislinn Laing - Dewani, standing in the dock, is beginning to look hopeful. Anni's father Vinod Hindocha is chewing gum furiously and looking at him.</noframe>

09.59 Judge Traverso says the ultimate test is whether the court is satisfied the story is essentially true, quoting case law.

09.54 Judge Traverso says she cannot accept that Dewani would co-opt Tongo to kill so quickly. She is also unconvinced that Tongo would be willing to ge involved.

<noframe>Twitter: Aislinn Laing - Traverso: "Apart from the contradictions, the entire story as told by Mr Tongo is highly improbable." <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23dewanitrial" target="_blank">#dewanitrial</a> live</noframe>

09.45 It looks like Shrien Dewani, dressed in a dark suit and tie, will be standing for a while. Judge Traverso continues to read from a lengthy document summarising the evidence.

Dewani's family are to his right in court. Anni's family are to his left and apparently are not happy:

<noframe>Twitter: Alex Crawford - <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23DewaniTrial" target="_blank">#DewaniTrial</a> Anni's fathr is staring at Dewani with open contempt, brows furrowed</noframe>

09.38 Judge Traverso continues to summarise evidence.

<noframe>Twitter: Aislinn Laing - Judge is back after short adjournment. Tongo's explanations, in cross-examination, of inconsistencies were "simply not credible". <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23Dewani" target="_blank">#Dewani</a></noframe>

<noframe>Twitter: Aislinn Laing - Judge refers scathingly to taxi driver Tongo's claim that "the record is wrong" if it didn't tally with what he said. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23DewaniTrial" target="_blank">#DewaniTrial</a></noframe>

09.32 The judge has returned to court. She asks Dewani to stand.

09.15 The court has adjourned for a tea break.

09.12 The judge is still criticising the taxi driver's evidence. Even if the trial is allowed to continue, this shows how dissatisfied she is with the State's case.

09.05 Judge Traverso says that the testimony of the two other middle men, Mziwamadoda Qwabe and Monde Mbolombo "contradict Mr Tongo on just about every aspect of their interaction".

But she added that credibility played a "limited role" at this stage.

Here is a summary of their evidence from Aislinn Laing:

Robert Zola Tongo - taxi driver

Tongo, who is serving 18 years for his part in Mrs Dewani’s murder, told how the British businessman promised to pay him R5,000 (£284) for arranging for two “hitmen” to have someone “taken out of sight”, within half an hour of their meeting at Cape Town’s International Airport.

Mr Tongo said he agreed because he needed the money. He said that after the carjacking, Mr Dewani pestered him with questions about “whether the job was done” as they waited for news at the couple’s luxury hotel, and later handed him an envelope of cash in a plastic bag that amounted to just R1,000.

Both encounters between the two men were captured on CCTV – Mr Dewani’s legal team said Mr Dewani was only enquiring after Tongo’s wellbeing and had paid for the taxi driver’s legitimate services because he felt sorry for him. Mr Tongo was criticised by the defence for contradicting his earlier accounts in his testimony to the court.

Monde Mbolombo – the “middle man” who put Tongo in touch with carjackers

Mr Mbolombo, who was given immunity from prosecution in return for his testimony at hitman Xolile Mngeni’s trial, admitted he lied about the extent of role in his evidence then.

He told how Tongo contacted after him to say he had a client who wanted his wife killed, and he put him in touch with a friend from the township. He said he coordinated the attack in a series of phone calls on the night of the carjacking.

Mziwamadoda Qwabe

One of the two men who forced the Dewani’s taxi off the road, and serving a 25-year jail sentence for his part in the crime. Qwabe said the couple’s taxi driver contacted him through a middle man and said his client, Mr Dewani, wanted his wife killed “but it had to look like a hijacking".

He denied the suggestion that he had fired the fatal shot at Mrs Dewani, since gunshot residue was found on the gloves he wore to drive the carjacked vehicle. Qwabe was a contradictory and at times evasive witness. He told the court he received a text message from the taxi driver confirming the “hit” hours before, saying: “the husband wanted the job done that night”. He said he and his co-attacker took R14,000 (£800) in cash from the car.

Xolile Mngeni was serving life for firing the shot that killed Mrs Dewani, but died in prison from a brain tumour in October.

09.00 From Aislinn Laing in court:

<noframe>Twitter: Aislinn Laing - Judge says Tongo made a "serious mistake" by contradicting earlier statement to police in the witness box. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23DewaniTrial" target="_blank">#DewaniTrial</a></noframe>

08.51 The judge says the evidence of taxi driver Zola Tongo was "riddled with contradictions".

08.45

<noframe>Twitter: Aislinn Laing - The public gallery is packed with lawyers and people from the township where Anni's body was found as Judge Traverso reads out her judgement</noframe>

08.32 Defence laywers said the evidence of taxi driver Zola Tongo, who is already serving 18 years in jail for Mrs Dewani's murder, was unreliable. Judge Traverso said: "It is crucial for the state to prove that Mr Dewani entered into an agreement with Zola Tongo the taxi driver."

<noframe>Twitter: James Grant - Traverso taken the view that everything turns on Tongo's evidence.</noframe>

08.12 The Telegraph's Aislinn Laing is in court:

<noframe>Twitter: Aislinn Laing - Shrien Dewani is staring at the judge, lips pursed, jaw set. His lawyer has his eyes shut and fist pressed to his forehead. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23ShrienDewani" target="_blank">#ShrienDewani</a></noframe>

08.00 A South African judge is ruling on whether charges that British businessman Shrien Dewani murdered his bride on their honeymoon should be thrown out of court.

Dewani's lawyers applied for his discharge at the end of the state's case, arguing that the evidence against him was so weak he should be acquitted without even having to mount a defence.

But the dead woman's family has urged Western Cape High Court Judge Jeannette Traverso to force Dewani to testify.

"Don't let Shrien Dewani walk away without giving us, South Africa and people from all over the world the full story," Anni Dewani's brother Anish Hindocha told a news conference last week.

Prosecutors say Dewani, 34, hired hitmen to kill his 28-year-old Swedish bride Anni in a staged hijacking because he is a gay man who felt trapped into marriage by family pressures.

Dewani says he is bisexual and loved Anni.

Both families - the Dewanis and the Hindochas - are of Indian origin, and have sat on opposite sides of the courtroom throughout weeks of sensational testimony.

The driver of the hijacked taxi and one of the hijackers - both serving long jail terms for the murder - testified that Dewani hired them for 15,000 rand ($1,300) to kill his wife.

Dewani's lawyer, Francois van Zyl, argued that their evidence was full of contradictions and "cannot safely be relied upon".

According to South Africa's Criminal Procedure Act, an accused can be declared not guilty at the close of the prosecution's case if the court feels there is insufficient evidence to show he or she committed the crime.