Andy Murray wins BBC Sports Personality of Year

Winner of 2015 Sports Personality of the Year Andy Murray. Picture: Niall Carson/PA

The tennis star, who played an instrumental role in helping Great Britain to secure a historic Davis Cup title last month – a success that earned them the Team of the Year award – said he had not prepared an acceptance speech and thanked everyone who had voted for him.

Rugby league star Kevin Sinfield was runner-up while world champion heptathlete Jessica Ennis-Hill came third.

Murray said: “Thank you very much, I genuinely didn’t prepare anything, I didn’t expect this.

Andy Murray is hoisted up by his teammates as they celebrates winning the Davis Cup. Pic: PA

“A friend actually sent me a message the other day with an article from a newspaper which said that ‘Andy Murray is duller than a weekend in Worthing’, which I thought was a bit harsh – to Worthing.”

Murray explained that his wife Kim, who is due to give birth in a few weeks, was unable to travel so could not attend the ceremony in Belfast.

He added: “It’s very humbling to be up here in front of so many great athletes.

“I’m a huge sports fan and I’m extremely nervous right now, so apologies about that, but congratulations to everyone who was involved tonight.

“I would really like to thank my team, all my team-mates, all of the staff that were over there, they were absolutely incredible.

“This has been a five-year journey [to winning the Davis Cup], we were down at the bottom level of tennis and now we’re ranked number one in the world – I never thought that would be possible.

“I’d also like to thank my family, some of them are here, not all of them are here – my wife is at home, she’s expecting a baby in a few weeks and is unable to travel, so I’ve got that to look forward to. I’d like to thank everyone who voted for me, I really appreciate that.

“I dedicate my life to this sport, I work as hard as I can every single day to try and make you proud and I appreciate all the votes – thank you very much.”

The inclusion on the shortlist of world heavyweight champion boxer Tyson Fury had sparked a major outcry.

Controversial comments allegedly equating homosexuality with paedophilia and joking about being violent to women prompted gay and equal rights campaigners to mount a small but vocal protest outside the SSE Arena.

Although he declined to comment on the red carpet, Fury later apologised from the stage for any offence his remarks may have caused.

He said: “If I’ve said anything in the past that has hurt anybody, I apologise to anybody who has been hurt. It was not my intention to do that.”

A lifetime achievement was presented to champion jump jockey AP McCoy, who retired in April after a 20-year career during which he rode 4,300 winners including at the Grand National and Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Ellie Downie received the Young Sports Personality of the Year and was presented with her award by boxer Carl Frampton and athlete Dina Asher-Smith.

The 16-year-old gymnast, from Nottingham, made history when she became the first British female to win an individual all-round medal for Great Britain at the European Championships when she took bronze.

Contenders

Lizzie Armitstead, 26, cycling – became world road race champion in America

Lucy Bronze, 24, football – scored twice for England in Women’s World Cup in Canada

Jessica Ennis-Hill, 29, athletics – won second world heptathlon title; came second in SPOTY in 2012

Mo Farah, 32, athletics – first man to achieve triple double, two World Championships and an Olympics

Chris Froome, 30, cycling – second win of the Tour de France

Tyson Fury, 27, boxing – controversial world heavyweight champion; unbeaten in 25 fights

Lewis Hamilton, 30, Formula 1 – third Formula 1 title, only the second British man to do so after Sir Jackie Stewart

Andy Murray, 28, tennis – part of the team that helped Britain win its first Davis Cup in 79 years

Adam Peaty, 20, swimming – first to complete 50m and 100m double at the Wordl Swimming Championships, and mixed 4x100m medley relay gold

Greg Rutherford, 29, athletics – gold at World Championships in the long jump

Kevin Sinfield, 35, rugby league – finished his career with Leeds Rhinos winning Super League Grant Final

Max Whitlock, 22, gymnastics – first man to win gold for Britain at the World Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow