Mazher Mahmood

Mazher Mahmood (born 22 March 1963) is a British journalist who was convicted of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Before his conviction, he worked mainly for the tabloid press.

He spent 20 years working for the News of the World and the Sunday Times, during which time he was responsible for numerous investigations, including a reputed 94 that led to convictions.

Mazher Mahmood was born in Small Heath, Birmingham, on 22 March 1963, the second of two sons of Sultan and Shamim Mahmood, journalists from Pakistan who had come to Britain three years earlier.

Mahmood first gained employment as a journalist at the age of 18, exposing family friends who sold pirate videos.

This gained him two weeks' work at the News of the World, after which he started freelancing at the Sunday People.

In 1984, while trying with fellow journalist Roger Insall to expose a vice-ring at the Metropole Hotel at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, according to Mahmood, he first used the sheikh disguise when inviting prostitutes to a hotel room.

Mahmood then worked for the Sunday Times, which he joined in 1989.

A managing editor at the time, Roy Greenslade, later alleged that Mahmood was dismissed for trying to cover up a mistake.

Mahmood has consistently disputed Greenslade's version of events.

Mahmood then briefly worked as a producer on David Frost's TV-am programme, before joining the News of the World in 1991.

Mahmood maintained high levels of secrecy, and said he rarely visited the News International offices.

It is said that written into his contract was a clause stating that his photograph would not be published.

When featured in images that accompany his stories, he has been represented with a silhouette next to his byline.

Despite these efforts, several news organisations have published photos of him, including BBC News, the Guardian and the Norwegian tabloid Dagbladet.

Mahmood won the "Reporter of the Year" award in 1999 for his exposé of Newcastle United bosses Freddy Shepherd and Douglas Hall, who mocked fans and branded Geordie women "dogs" after taking Mahmood, posing as the sheikh, to a brothel in Marbella.

Footballer John Fashanu was exposed for alleged match-fixing.

Mahmood's targets included various society figures, including Sophie, Countess of Wessex, in 2001, Princess Michael of Kent in 2005, and Sarah, Duchess of York, in 2010.

On 30 March 2006, Respect Party politician George Galloway said that Mahmood, using his "fake sheikh" disguise and working for the News of the World, attempted to trap him in a sting operation at a meeting in the Dorchester Hotel with businessmen from the Middle East.

Galloway said he had put off the meeting for several weeks and was suspicious from the beginning.

Of the men, he wrote on his website that "neither of the two looked at all like an Islamist (which is what they later claimed to be); neither had a beard".

Galloway said that Mahmood tried but failed to implicate him in illegal party funding, and to agree with antisemitic statements.

The News of the World admitted their journalist had been present, but asserted that he had been involved in "wholly legitimate inquiries."

Mahmood himself denied the use of antisemitic comments.

Media commentator Roy Greenslade accused Mahmood and the News of the World, in its use of "subterfuge", of adopting practices which "debase journalism."

Galloway wrote to Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police commissioner and Michael Martin, the Speaker of the House of Commons about the incident.

He also released photographs of Mahmood on the internet, distributed the images to other MPs and the royal family, and revealed other aspects of Mahmood's activities.

The News of the World lost a High Court action to prevent publication of photographs of Mahmood.

In his letter to the Speaker's office, Galloway also claimed that Mahmood had in the past deceived Diane Abbott and had sought a meeting with Jeremy Corbyn, both also prominent anti-war MPs.

Other politicians featured in Mahmood's investigations included David Mellor, the former Secretary of State for National Heritage, who had resigned following an affair and the revelation of the unwise acceptance of the gift of a holiday, and Environment Minister Tim Yeo who was revealed to have fathered a child outside his marriage.

In September 2008, he wrote a book entitled Confessions of a Fake Sheik (sic) – The King of the Sting Reveals All.

In addition to his "Fake Sheikh" persona, Mahmood has used the identity of businessman Sam Fernando.

He is reputed to be accompanied on occasions by a bodyguard, said to be his second cousin Mahmood Qureshi, who has posed as businessman Pervaiz Khan.

Conrad Brown, the son of former NoW reporter Gerry Brown, operated the concealed video cameras and microphones.

He won Reporter of the Year in 2011, as well as Scoop of the Year and the Sports Journalists' Association award, for an investigation of cricket match-fixing.

Later, from its foundation in 2012, he worked for the Sun on Sunday, successor to the News of the World.

Mahmood became known popularly as the "fake sheikh" because he often posed as a sheikh during the course of his investigations.

In addition to numerous highly regarded public-interest investigations, he attracted allegations of breaking the law without any clear public-interest justification, including several episodes in which he was accused of entrapment.

In July 2014, Mahmood was suspended from the Sun on Sunday after a trial collapsed against former X Factor judge and singer Tulisa, with concerns voiced by a judge that Mahmood might have perjured himself.

In October 2016, Mahmood was jailed for 15 months after being found guilty of conspiring to pervert the course of justice.