Mazher Mahmood: 'Fake Sheikh' jailed for 15 months

Undercover reporter sentenced after being found guilty of tampering with evidence in collapsed drug trial of Tulisa Contostavlos

Undercover reporter Mazher Mahmood has been jailed for 15 months after being found guilty of tampering with evidence in the collapsed drug trial of singer Tulisa Contostavlos.

After a two-week Old Bailey trial this month, Mahmood, 53, the self-styled “king of the sting”, and his driver Alan Smith, 67, were found guilty of conspiring to pervert the course of justice by changing a police statement.

After the verdict, the Guardian learned that News UK was facing more than 45 civil claims relating to Mahmood’s stings. The media lawyer Mark Lewis, who is handling the claims, said they could “dwarf” those brought following the phone-hacking scandal.

Mahmood, known as the “Fake Sheikh”, and Smith were convicted of conspiring to suppress evidence in the trial of the former N-Dubz singer and X-Factor judge, which was thrown out at Southwark crown court in July 2014.

News UK said it was terminating Mahmood’s employment, but that it would “vigorously defend” any civil claims brought against it as a result of his activity.

A spokeswoman said: “Mazher has led scores of successful investigations during his 25-year career with the company. His work has led to the exposure of criminality and wrongdoing. It is a source of great regret that his time with the company should end in this manner.

“We have noted the threats made after Mazher’s conviction of civil claims against this company in relation to his previous work. Should such claims be brought, they will be vigorously defended.”

The judge, Gerald Gordon, said Mahmood would serve half his sentence before being released on licence.

As he was led from the dock, someone in the packed public gallery shouted: “It’s your turn now, Mazher.”

Smith was given a 12-month suspended sentence.

Sentencing Mahmood, the judge said: “It was your idea. You were the intended beneficiary.

“The motive was to protect and enhance your reputation. You wanted another scalp and Tulisa Contostavlos’s conviction would have allowed that, and to achieve that, when you saw a problem, you were prepared for the court to be deceived.”

Mahmood’s lawyer John Kelsey-Fry QC told the judge: “He stands before you a very frightened man.”

Kelsey-Fry added that over the years Mahmood had been responsible for sending many individuals to prison and had worked with police. “Mr Mahmood is not expected to be the most welcome, nor the most popular, inmate,” he said, adding prison would be “much harder” because of that.

“He has brought a catastrophe upon himself,” said Kelsey-Fry. “A lifetime’s work will be forever tarnished.”

Some saw him “merely as an entertainment journalist targeting celebrities”, but Mahmood had “often placed himself in personal danger in pursuing professional criminals” and had “raised awareness in areas of genuine public concern”, said Kelsey-Fry.

He had received awards and recognition. “So whatever people may say of him today that career has provided some valued service.”

The judge said he took into account Mahmood’s previous good character, “and accepted that in the course of your career you have done some good work in the past”.

Mahmood was also ordered to pay £30,000 costs.

Referring to Smith, the judge said Mahmood had “made use of a loyal person, partly an employee, in order to achieve your purpose”.

As the two stood in the dock, he told them: “You have been convicted by the jury of conspiring to pervert the course of justice. You, Alan Smith, agreed to and did alter your original witness statement to remove the passage that you both realised could be used to support Tulisa Contostavlos’s case in an entrapment hearing.”

Trevor Burke QC, acting for Smith, argued for a suspended sentence saying the driver had numerous health problems and was to undergo knee and hip replacement surgery soon.

Gordon also acknowledged a letter from the editor of the Sun on Sunday and one from Mahmood’s mother’s GP. The sentence would affect Mahmood’s mother, who was “elderly and infirm”, the judge heard. Mahmood was divorced, and had joint custody of his 14-year-old son.

In an interview to be shown on Sunday on BBC1, Contostavlos said Mahmood was now serving the prison sentence she could have faced.

“If you were to go back in time and someone was to say to me three years ago: ‘OK, Mazher Mahmood is going to be facing the same amount of time in jail as you were, he’s going to be the one in the firing line and the press are going to put him on the front pages and destroy his reputation as they did to you,’ it’s bizarre. It really is.”

Following Mahmood’s conviction, the Crown Prosecution Service dropped a number of live cases and reviewed 25 past convictions. Six have been taken up by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC).

Some of Mahmood’s alleged sting victims gathered outside the Old Bailey on Friday.

John Alford, the former London’s Burning actor whose case is among those to be reviewed, said in a statement: “It’s taken over 20 years for some of us, but finally a judge and a jury of our peers has woken up to Mazher Mahmood’s lies. We would now like to ask parliament to honour their promise to the British people and implement Leveson part two.” The Leveson inquiry was originally intended to have two parts but only the first has taken place.

Alford added: “Our three states, the monarch, our parliament and our judicial system, must be held accountable, yes. But they must not be held to ransom by a corrupt or unscrupulous press. So please let’s cleanse this stain on our democracy once and for all.”

The campaign group Hacked Off said the need for the second part of the Leveson inquiry was “overwhelmingly clear”. Part two, expected to investigate law-breaking and improper conduct within media organisations, was put on hold until criminal proceedings end. A Department for Culture, Media and Sport spokesman said: “Criminal investigations relating to the Leveson inquiry have not yet been completed and we have always been clear that the conclusion of these cases must take place before we can consider part two of the inquiry.”

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