He spent three years living under a cloud as he fought to prove his innocence after being named in a sexism and bullying tribunal by a former colleague.

And now Dan Walker has lambasted fellow TV presenter Claudia-Liza Vanderpuije, who he is still 'working towards' forgiving.

The Channel 5 presenter, 49, who is vocal about his Christianity, spoke for the first time about his 'terrible' three years and his desire to now 'move on' with his life.

'I'm glad it's over and I'm not sure what I can or can't say, but if you're going to accuse somebody of that sort of thing it's very important there's an element of truth to it,' he exclusively told the Daily Mail.

Walker, who was gearing up to fight his case in court back in April, said he 'still can't believe it got to the point that it did get to' but is now 'trying to move on with my life'. 

He said that, while 'it's been a terrible three years' he feels overwhelmed and 'really privileged' to have had 'well over 100 people' write glowing character references for him.

'I didn't even have to ask for character references,' he said.

'I had well over 100 people who wrote them anyway over a few days and sent them to me, I didn't even send them all in.

'I sent about 40, [but] there were hundreds I could have sent in which will mean a lot to me until the day I die.'

Despite the sensational accusations of misogyny, racism and bullying levelled against him by Ms Vanderpuije, he said he knows 'what I'm like', as does everyone else in the 'industry'.

'It's not nice when you're going through that and I'm trying to find sort of, I feel like I'm back to where I am and I've got my brain space back,' he said.

'It was incredibly stressful, but my overwhelming emotion is grateful that it's over.'

The former BBC Breakfast star said he was thankful that 'everyone knew what was going on and why what was happening happened' and that Channel 5 had been 'incredibly' supportive.

'I take my faith very seriously and I think I believe fundamentally in forgiveness and I'm working towards it,' he said.

'I don't sleep anyway but it will take me some time to get to forgiveness.'

Walker was set to appear at an employment tribunal accused of sexism, misogyny against a black woman and bullying in the workplace in April after Ms Vanderpiuje launched legal action against him, Channel 5 owner Paramount and ITN, the firm that makes the news programme.

The former BBC star was named as a respondent to Ms Vanderpuije's claims though he profusely denied the allegations and had more than 50 character witness statements from famous footballers, Olympians, BBC journalists and presenters, and other colleagues ready for the judge at the hearing to read.

However, in what was a tense week of back and forth between the two sides' lawyers, Ms Vanderpuije withdrew her claims against Walker and reached a settlement with the two TV companies.

While he was said to be relieved that the case had come to an end, he was cross that he didn't get to have his day in court where he could tell his side of the story – and publicly deny any wrongdoing against his co-star.

While the settlement Ms Vanderpuije agreed has not been disclosed, sources close to the case say that it would have been 'significantly less' than the £4million demanded by her lawyer, Jonathan Coad, just a fortnight before the tribunal was due to take place.

At one point they wanted £13million from ITN and Paramount. The agreement was reached with no admission of liability from any of the parties and her payout did not include any of her 'very high' legal costs being paid by her former employers.

In April 2024, Mr Walker was 'completely exonerated' following a workplace probe into 'serious misconduct'.