Who is the unlikely heroine of European banking and the toast of Frankfurt and the City of London? Even the most cynical market observers raised a glass or two 10 days ago to Judge Brigitte Koppenhofer in Germany.

She had listened to weeks of evidence, thought the prosecution's argument contained more hot air than a Zeppelin and threw out criminal charges against the six main defendants in the highly publicised Mannesmann trial in Düsseldorf.