The middle-aged English businessman deleted the texts from his iPhone, but his wife stumbled across them on the family iMac and subsequently asked for a divorce, The Times reports.

He is pursuing the technology giant for more than £5 million which he says he is losing as a result of the divorce and associated legal costs.

The man, who admitted to engaging sex workers via text for a number of years, said the divorce was “all because Apple told me my messages were deleted when they weren’t”.

Simon Walton, from London law firm Rosenblatt, told The Telegraph: “Apple had not been clear with users as to what happens to messages they send and receive and, importantly, delete.

“In many cases, the iPhone informs the user that messages have been deleted but, as we have seen, that isn’t true and is misleading because they are still found on other linked devices — something Apple doesn’t tell its users.”