“Fake Sheikh” Mahzer Mahmood to be sentenced for tampering with Tulisa trial evidence
Undercover journalist Mazher Mahmood, known as the “Fake Sheikh”, is due to be sentenced today after being found guilty of conspiring to pervert the course of justice.
Mahmood, 53, the self-styled “King of Sting”, had altered evidence in the collapsed drugs trial of singer Tulisa Contostavlos.
His driver, Alan Smith, 67, was also found guilty of the same charge following a trial at the Old Bailey.
After the verdict, it was announced that 20 civil claims were being launched against Mahmood and News Corp, totalling about £800m, which media lawyer Mark Lewis said could “dwarf” those brought following the phone-hacking scandal.
Over the last 25 years, innumerable lives have been ruined by the dishonest actions of Mazher Mahmood,” he said. “People have lost their livelihoods, their homes and relationships, with some spending time in prison.”
As he was leaving court, Mahmood declined to comment to journalists or say whether he would be launching an appeal.
Ben Rose, Miss Contostavlos’ defence lawyer, said investigative journalists did important work “but Mahmood clearly went too far”.
“The real scandal in this case is that Mahmood was allowed to operate as a wholly unregulated police force, ‘investigating’ crimes without the safeguards which apply to the police,” he said.
Mahmood, who worked for the now defunct News of the World as well as the Sunday Times and Sun on Sunday, has been suspended by News UK since the collapse of the Tulisa trial.
News UK have not commented further on Mahmood’s conviction but a spokesman has expressed how “disappointed” they are by the news.
Both Mahmood and Smith will be sentenced today.
The “Fake Sheikh”
- Mahmood claims to have have helped in the convictions of 100 criminals during his 25 years as an investigative journalist
- He posed as numerous characters, including a sheikh
- His targets have included spot fixing Pakistany cricketers, ex-England football manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, former Blue Peter presenter Richard Bacon, the Countess of Wesses and Princess Michael of Kent
- Many details about him were a mystery, and his contract prevented his photograph ever being published
- Mahmood has defended his actions, telling the Leveson Inquiry into press standards that the “ends justify the means”
