# Mazher Mahmood
**Mazher Mahmood** is a British undercover tabloid journalist known as the "Fake Sheikh", who for more than two decades posed as a wealthy Gulf sheikh and other invented characters to entrap celebrities, sports figures, and alleged criminals for the *News of the World*, the *Sunday Times* and the *Sun on Sunday*. He claims to have helped secure the convictions of 100 criminals during 25 years as an investigative journalist[1](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37563509), and his targets included the Pakistan cricket team, Sarah Ferguson, Sven-Goran Eriksson, Richard Bacon, the Countess of Wessex and [Princess Michael of Kent](https://www.edgepedia.org/princess-michael-of-kent)[2](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37555017). His career collapsed after the 2014 drugs trial of the singer Tulisa Contostavlos was thrown out and he was convicted in 2016 of conspiring to pervert the course of justice[1](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37563509).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Persona | "Fake Sheikh"; first disguise bought for £12 from an Islamic bookshop in Birmingham in 1984, aged 21[3](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jul/21/mazher-mahmood-fake-sheikh-investigations) |
| Employers | Freelance for the *Sunday People*; *News of the World* for two decades; later the *Sunday Times* and *Sun on Sunday*[3](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jul/21/mazher-mahmood-fake-sheikh-investigations) • [1](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37563509) |
| Famous stings | 2010 Lord's spot-fixing exposure of Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif, and Salman Butt; 2010 Sarah Ferguson access-for-£500,000 sting[2](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37555017) |
| Convictions claimed | 100 criminals over 25 years by his own claim; a reported 94 convictions from his investigations at the *Sunday Times* and *News of the World*[1](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37563509) • [4](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/documentaries/true-crime/mazher-mahmood-fake-sheikh-explained/) |
| Collapsed trials | Beckham kidnap plot trial (payment of £10,000 to a convicted criminal disclosed); Tulisa Contostavlos drugs trial 2014[2](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37555017) • [1](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37563509) |
| 2016 conviction | Guilty at the Old Bailey of conspiring to pervert the course of justice; driver Alan Smith convicted on the same charge[1](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37563509) |
| Aftermath | Suspended by News UK; three cases abandoned, 25 referred to the CPS, six taken up by the CCRC[1](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37563509) |
## Early life and background
Mahmood is Birmingham-born and the son of a journalist who pioneered the first Urdu-language newspaper in Britain[3](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jul/21/mazher-mahmood-fake-sheikh-investigations). His first sting came while he was still in his teens, when he exposed family friends who sold pirated videos; he sold a story about the VHS-pirating gang to the *News of the World*, which employed him for two decades[3](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jul/21/mazher-mahmood-fake-sheikh-investigations). In 1989, he joined the *Sunday Times*, also owned by [Rupert Murdoch](https://www.edgepedia.org/rupert-murdoch)'s group, where he worked for nearly three years before returning to the *News of the World* full-time[4](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/documentaries/true-crime/mazher-mahmood-fake-sheikh-explained/).
## The 'Fake Sheikh' persona and methods
Mahmood was 21 when he bought his first fake sheikh outfit for £12 from an Islamic bookshop in [Birmingham](https://www.edgepedia.org/birmingham). It was 1984, and he was a freelance reporter working for the *Sunday People*, targeting a prostitution racket at a hotel next to the NEC Motor Show[3](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jul/21/mazher-mahmood-fake-sheikh-investigations). The disguise became his signature: over a 30-year career he operated with an entourage of bodyguards, assistants, and even three stand-in sheikhs[3](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jul/21/mazher-mahmood-fake-sheikh-investigations).
The method relied on fabricated identities and inducement. For the 2013 sting on Tulisa Contostavlos, he posed as a Bollywood producer called "Samir Khan", keen to cast her in a lead role alongside [Leonardo DiCaprio](https://www.edgepedia.org/leonardo-dicaprio). He flew her first class to Las Vegas, and at a further meeting at London's Metropolitan hotel plied her and two associates with cocktails and turned the conversation to how he could acquire cocaine[5](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/oct/05/fall-of-the-fake-sheikh-how-the-tables-turned-on-mazher-mahmood). She allegedly arranged for him to be sold half an ounce of cocaine for £800[1](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37563509). Whether such stings amount to entrapment has divided opinion throughout his career[3](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jul/21/mazher-mahmood-fake-sheikh-investigations).
## Career at the News of the World and notable stings
**Sport.** In August 2010 a *News of the World* sting revealed Pakistan bowlers [Mohammad Amir](https://www.edgepedia.org/mohammad-amir) and Mohammad Asif, together with their captain [Salman Butt](https://www.edgepedia.org/salman-butt), were involved in a betting scam known as spot-fixing. Disguised as an Indian businessman, Mahmood used hidden cameras to record the players' agent Mazhar Majeed making arrangements for deliberate no-balls to be bowled at set points during the fourth Test between England and Pakistan at Lord's. All three players received cricketing bans, and they and Majeed were later jailed[2](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37555017).
**Royalty and celebrity.** In 2010 the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, apologized after a sting in which she appeared to offer access to Prince Andrew in exchange for £500,000[2](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37555017). His other targets included the England football manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, the television presenter [Richard Bacon](https://www.edgepedia.org/richard-bacon-broadcaster), the Countess of Wessex, and Princess Michael of Kent[2](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37555017).
## Convictions, collapsed cases, and the Tulisa trial
Some stings produced criminal convictions, notably the jailing of the Pakistan cricketers and their agent[2](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37555017). Others collapsed in court. Following a sting by Mahmood, five men faced charges of plotting to abduct [Victoria Beckham](https://www.edgepedia.org/victoria-beckham), but the case against them fell apart once it came to light that the newspaper had given £10,000 to Florim Gashi, a person with a criminal conviction, in exchange for his account.[2](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37555017)
The Contostavlos case ended his career. The 2014 trial was thrown out after his driver, Alan Smith, changed his police statement, removing her comments expressing disapproval of hard drugs[1](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37563509). In October 2016 Mahmood, then 53, was found guilty at the [Old Bailey](https://www.edgepedia.org/old-bailey) of conspiring to pervert the course of justice for altering evidence in the collapsed trial; Smith, 67, was convicted on the same charge[1](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37563509).
The fallout spread to his earlier work. Three cases based on his evidence had already been abandoned, another 25 were referred to the [Crown Prosecution Service](https://www.edgepedia.org/crown-prosecution-service), and six were taken up by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, including that of the former *[London's Burning](https://www.edgepedia.org/londons-burning-tv-series)* actor John Alford[1](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37563509).
## Later career and the 'Fake Sheikh' documentary
Mahmood also worked for the *Sunday Times* and *Sun on Sunday*, and was suspended by [News UK](https://www.edgepedia.org/news-uk) after the collapse of the Tulisa trial[1](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37563509). *Fake Sheikh*, a three-part Prime Video documentary series made by Voltage TV, follows how he climbed to the top levels of [tabloid journalism](https://www.edgepedia.org/tabloid-journalism), was twice named Reporter of the Year at the [British Press Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/british-press-awards), and then fell from grace and was jailed[6](https://press.aboutamazon.com/uk/2022/8/prime-video-adds-two-new-true-crime-documentaries-to-growing-slate).
## By the numbers
The scale of his record is disputed in its details. Mahmood claims 100 convictions over 25 years[1](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37563509); a retrospective account reports 94 convictions from his investigations at the *Sunday Times* and *News of the World*[4](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/documentaries/true-crime/mazher-mahmood-fake-sheikh-explained/). Career length is likewise given variously as 20 years[2](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37555017), 25 years[1](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37563509), and a 30-year career[3](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jul/21/mazher-mahmood-fake-sheikh-investigations). After the Tulisa collapse, three cases were abandoned, 25 referred to the CPS, and six taken up by the CCRC[1](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37563509). Lawyers said 18 other people targeted by Mahmood planned civil claims against him that could total £800m[1](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37563509).
## Ethics, regulation, and legacy
Mahmood defended his methods, telling the [Leveson Inquiry](https://www.edgepedia.org/leveson-inquiry) into press standards that the "ends justify the means"[1](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37563509). His targets' legal recourse was limited in one respect: libel actions are ordinarily subject to a 12-month limitation period from publication[1](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37563509). Opinion on his work divided from the start of his career, between those who credited the convictions his stings produced and those who regarded the methods as entrapment[3](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jul/21/mazher-mahmood-fake-sheikh-investigations). The record of collapsed trials, the 2016 conviction, and the post-2014 referrals of his cases to prosecutors and the CCRC form the core of the case against his methods; the convictions from the Lord's spot-fixing exposure form the core of the case for them[1](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37563509) • [2](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37555017).
## References
1. ['Fake Sheikh' Mazher Mahmood guilty over Tulisa case, BBC News](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37563509)
2. [The Fake Sheikh's most famous stings, BBC News](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37555017)
3. [Mazher Mahmood: the 'fake sheikh' whose investigations divided opinion, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jul/21/mazher-mahmood-fake-sheikh-investigations)
4. [Who is Mazher Mahmood, the "Fake Sheikh"?, Radio Times](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/documentaries/true-crime/mazher-mahmood-fake-sheikh-explained/)
5. [Fall of the 'Fake Sheikh': how the tables were turned on Mazher Mahmood, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/oct/05/fall-of-the-fake-sheikh-how-the-tables-turned-on-mazher-mahmood)
6. [Prime Video adds two new true-crime documentaries to growing slate, Amazon Press Office](https://press.aboutamazon.com/uk/2022/8/prime-video-adds-two-new-true-crime-documentaries-to-growing-slate)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Broadcasting and journalism › Journalism and press › Journalists and their taxonomy › Surnames A to Ma*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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