Tulisa Contostavlos trial collapses over Mazher Mahmood evidence
Courtesy of Peter Walker and Hatty Collier http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/jul/21/tulisa-contostavlos-trial-collapses-mazher-mahmood
Reporter suspended by Sun after judge says case cannot go on because of 'strong grounds to believe' he lied at hearing
The trial of the singer and TV entertainer Tulisa Contostavlos over drugs allegations has dramatically collapsed after the judge ruled that the Sun investigative reporter whose evidence was central to the case had seemingly lied on oath.
In scathing comments with potentially significant repercussions for Mazher Mahmood, the veteran undercover reporter often known as the "fake sheikh", judge Alistair McCreath said he believed Mahmood had lied in the witness stand.
Mahmood has since been suspended by his newspaper.
There were "strong grounds for believing that the underlying purpose of these lies was to conceal the fact that he had been manipulating the evidence in this case" by getting another witness to change his account, McCreath told the jury.
The judge dismissed the jury at Southwark crown court, telling them the case "cannot go any further".
Contostavlos grinned broadly in the glassed dock as the judge read his ruling. She then hugged relatives and supporters, weeping. Her lawyer embraced the 26-year-old outside the courtroom, telling her: "It's over now."
Outside court a nervous-looking Contostavlos condemned "a horrific and disgusting entrapment" by Mahmood and the newspaper.
She said: "Mahmood has now been exposed by my lawyers openly lying to the judge and jury. These lies were told to stop crucial evidence going before the jury."
She added: "Thankfully, the lies have been uncovered and justice has been done."
Contostavlos was on trial for allegedly setting up an £800 cocaine deal between a friend and Mahmood, who made his name with similar sting-type operations on the News of the World before that paper closed.
Mahmood posed as a wealthy Bollywood film producer interested in casting the singer and former X Factor judge as the lead in a major film, flying her to Las Vegas and taking her to a luxury London restaurant. Details of the drugs deal and her alleged role in it were then published in the Sun.
Contostavlos insisted throughout that she had been entrapped and only pretended an interest in drugs to play up to a "bad girl" image seemingly sought by the producers.
Her friend, Mike Coombs, a rapper with the stage name Mike GLC, pleaded guilty to supplying the drugs to Mahmood, but the case against him has also been dropped.
The apparent lie by Mahmood dates back to a pre-trial hearing in which he denied having seen a police statement made by his driver, Alan Smith, about a conversation Smith had with Contostavlos while dropping her home in which she expressed disapproval of drugs.
But under cross-examination on Thursday Mahmood conceded he had received an emailed copy of the statement.
Jeremy Dein QC, for the defence, asked if he had "put influence" on Smith to change the statement. The reporter denied this, but later conceded he had discussed his worries about the statement with Smith.
The judge intervened to say this appeared to show Mahmood had lied to manipulate the evidence and that he was considering whether to order a trial, allow bad character evidence against Mahmood, or drop the case entirely.
On Monday he announced the latter option, telling the jury that had he known about Mahmood's actions he would have agreed to an earlier defence application to dismiss the case.
Mahmood, he added, was the "sole progenitor" of the case and had gone to "considerable" lengths to get Contostavlos involved in crime, certainly more than police would have done.
The judge did not mention whether Mahmood could face a perjury trial, but this is now a possibility.
In scathing comments with potentially significant repercussions for Mazher Mahmood, the veteran undercover reporter often known as the "fake sheikh", judge Alistair McCreath said he believed Mahmood had lied in the witness stand.
Mahmood has since been suspended by his newspaper.
There were "strong grounds for believing that the underlying purpose of these lies was to conceal the fact that he had been manipulating the evidence in this case" by getting another witness to change his account, McCreath told the jury.
The judge dismissed the jury at Southwark crown court, telling them the case "cannot go any further".
Contostavlos grinned broadly in the glassed dock as the judge read his ruling. She then hugged relatives and supporters, weeping. Her lawyer embraced the 26-year-old outside the courtroom, telling her: "It's over now."
Outside court a nervous-looking Contostavlos condemned "a horrific and disgusting entrapment" by Mahmood and the newspaper.
She said: "Mahmood has now been exposed by my lawyers openly lying to the judge and jury. These lies were told to stop crucial evidence going before the jury."
She added: "Thankfully, the lies have been uncovered and justice has been done."
Contostavlos was on trial for allegedly setting up an £800 cocaine deal between a friend and Mahmood, who made his name with similar sting-type operations on the News of the World before that paper closed.
Mahmood posed as a wealthy Bollywood film producer interested in casting the singer and former X Factor judge as the lead in a major film, flying her to Las Vegas and taking her to a luxury London restaurant. Details of the drugs deal and her alleged role in it were then published in the Sun.
Contostavlos insisted throughout that she had been entrapped and only pretended an interest in drugs to play up to a "bad girl" image seemingly sought by the producers.
Her friend, Mike Coombs, a rapper with the stage name Mike GLC, pleaded guilty to supplying the drugs to Mahmood, but the case against him has also been dropped.
The apparent lie by Mahmood dates back to a pre-trial hearing in which he denied having seen a police statement made by his driver, Alan Smith, about a conversation Smith had with Contostavlos while dropping her home in which she expressed disapproval of drugs.
But under cross-examination on Thursday Mahmood conceded he had received an emailed copy of the statement.
Jeremy Dein QC, for the defence, asked if he had "put influence" on Smith to change the statement. The reporter denied this, but later conceded he had discussed his worries about the statement with Smith.
The judge intervened to say this appeared to show Mahmood had lied to manipulate the evidence and that he was considering whether to order a trial, allow bad character evidence against Mahmood, or drop the case entirely.
On Monday he announced the latter option, telling the jury that had he known about Mahmood's actions he would have agreed to an earlier defence application to dismiss the case.
Mahmood, he added, was the "sole progenitor" of the case and had gone to "considerable" lengths to get Contostavlos involved in crime, certainly more than police would have done.
The judge did not mention whether Mahmood could face a perjury trial, but this is now a possibility.
