Leave his children alone!

"They are really wonderful kids who have been brought up in very difficult circumstances," Mr Boyle told The Daily Telegraph.

He would be back "in the next couple of months" to check on the children and the trust fund he has set up to ensure their safety and education, and Plan India, a charity working in the slums that has received a £500,000 donation from the Slumdog team.

"The parents are good people who love their children," the 52-year-old Scot added.

"All the tension and pressure on the family is media-dominated and there has been a lot of inevitable miscommunication because we live in London and have only been able to read the news stories from afar."

The children have a bright future ahead, he believes.

"They were given access to an extraordinary and glamorous world and they understandably wanted their lives to be completely transformed, but it does take time."

Such a nice man! I knew it!