WINNERS & LOSERS
The sentencing judge said : ‘ You wanted another scalp .’
WINNERS & LOSERS
Our quarterly round-up of high-profile legal winners and losers
CRIME : ‘ Fake Sheikh ’ imprisoned
■ Mazher Mahmood , known as the ‘ Fake Sheikh ’, has been convicted of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and sentenced to 15 months in prison . Mahmood carried out undercover investigations for newspapers including the now defunct News of the World for over 20 years .
His stings included that of Pakistani cricket players Salman Butt and Mohammed Asif , who were later found guilty of conspiracy to cheat and conspiracy to accept corrupt payments in relation to ‘ spot-fixing ’. They deliberately bowled noballs at a Lord ’ s Test Match . Other targets included Sophie , Countess of Wessex , Sven-Göran Eriksson and Richard Bacon . Mr Mahmood has claimed his stings resulted in over 100 criminal convictions .
The case against Mahmood was brought following the collapse of N-Dubz singer Tulisa Contostavlos ’ s prosecution for an alleged drug offence in 2014 , an offence she denied . That prosecution had followed one of Mahmood ’ s stings . Mahmood and his driver , Alan Smith , were found to have altered a witness statement to remove the passage they realised could be used to support Contostavlos ’ s case . In respect of Mahmood ’ s motive , the sentencing judge said : ‘ You wanted another scalp .’
The Judge said that while he accepted that Mahmood had done some good work over the course of his career , a term of imprisonment was inevitable . Mahmood ’ s driver was given a 12-month suspended sentence ( meaning he will not be sent to prison unless
The sentencing judge said : ‘ You wanted another scalp .’
he commits a further offence ). The Judge said that Mr Smith had in part been motivated by misguided loyalty .
Following the sentence , News UK announced that Mahmood had been sacked . It has also been reported that a number of individuals will bring civil claims against News UK in the light of Mahmood ’ s conviction . News UK has said it will vigorously defend such claims .
Undercover investigations form the basis of many press stories and television programmes , and can be a very effective way of gathering evidence when done properly . Generally , the use of subterfuge in journalism must be justifi ed by the public interest . It goes without saying that journalists must also be scrupulous to ensure that they do nothing that might improperly interfere with the course of justice , otherwise they are at risk of prosecution .
PRIVACY : Celebrity threesome case – News Group pay damages and costs
■ In the Summer issue of zoom-in , we reported on the celebrity known only as PJS , who brought a successful appeal in the Supreme Court to prevent details of his extramarital relationships being made public by The Sun on
Sunday on the basis that publication of this information would be a misuse of private information and a breach of confi dence .
A fi nal order has now been made in the High Court that News Group Newspapers pay a specifi c sum in damages in full and fi nal settlement of PJS ’ s claim for damages and costs . The exact fi gure has been kept confi dential but is likely to be substantial . News Group Newspapers also agreed it would not publish any information which could identify PJS , including identifying his partner or three other individuals .
CONFIDENCE : Ingenious Media wins case against HMRC over ‘ off the record ’ briefing
■ Ingenious Media and its founder Patrick McKenna , who is also Chairman of Hat Trick Productions , have won a case against HMRC in the Supreme Court . The Court ruled that HMRC breached its duty of confi dentiality in briefi ng Times journalists ‘ off the record ’ about the company and Mr McKenna ’ s tax affairs . The briefi ng resulted in an article appearing in the newspaper , which included information and a quote from that briefi ng .
Ingenious Media had run a number of fi lm investment schemes that had the effect of minimising tax for its clients , utilising tax reliefs which were available at the time .
The Revenue had sought to argue that it was entitled to disclose the information as it was , it said , carrying out its functions in fostering close relations with the media and publicising HMRC ’ s view about tax avoidance schemes , in the hope that journalists
4 | zoom-in Winter 2016