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The settlement of Prince Harry’s action against the News of the World will come as a relief to Mazher “Fake Sheik” Mahmood. Even though Murdoch’s legal team were not going to call him as a witness, the trial would have been highly embarrassing for the paper’s star reporter.
Prince Harry’s barrister would have explored Mahmood’s alleged intimidation of a key witness in the 1999 trial of the actor John Alford. More than twenty years after Alford was jailed for supplying cocaine to the Fake Sheik, the witness confessed that she gave false testimony under oath.
Byline Times has obtained new evidence that the News of the World hired security guards from the Daniel Morgan murder suspect Jonathan Rees. The paper said they were there to provide “personal protection” for Mahmood during the trial but Alford insists their real purpose was to intimidate witnesses.
‘What We’re Doing is Illegal’ – The Private Investigator, the Daily Express Editor and the Daniel Morgan Report
Gary Jones once worked for the News of the World and the Daily Mirror. Today he edits the Daily Express. Will he figure in the report of the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel, out next week? Brian Cathcart considers the evidence
Mazher Mahmood was one of those accused of “routinely using” illegal methods to get stories. Initially, he was going to be called to give evidence — surprising given he is a convicted perjurer — but News Group eventually decided against it.
The end of the litigation case means that the court cannot examine disturbing new evidence of Mahmood’s role in the high-profile conviction of the ITV London’s Burning star, John Alford, in 1999.
Alford was the victim of an expensive and elaborate “sting” to persuade him to supply cocaine to the Fake Sheik. He was found guilty and sentenced to nine months in prison.
He has always protested his innocence, accusing the News of the World and Mahmood of presenting false evidence against him. Three years ago he brought a successful claim against the paper in the hacking litigation and obtained substantial damages.
