View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

Mahmood denies Indy report he paid murder case PI

By Andrew Pugh

Former News of the World investigations editor Mazher Mahmood has denied claims made in today’s Independent that he hired bodyguards from a firm owned by private investigator Jonathan Rees.

The newspaper claimed the financial links between Mahmood and Southern Investigations, run by Rees, was ‘part of an established relationship that at one point earned the private investigator £150,000 a year from News International“.

Rees was jailed for seven years in 2001 for plotting to plant cocaine in the car of an innocent woman and was also arrested in 1987 following the murder of his business partner Daniel Morgan, though he was acquitted of the murder this year when the trial collapsed.

Among the accusations made in today’s Independent report was that Rees was paid £1,500 to conduct inquiries into an illegal immigration scam later published in the paper, and that Southern Investigations was also being paid by the NoW to protect Mahmood

Appearing before the Leveson Inquiry this morning, the 2010 Press Awards reporter of the year denied the claims.

‘I never commissioned a private detective to work for me, I never paid a private detective, contrary to the report in this morning’s Independent,’he said.

‘It’s simply not true.’

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

Mahmood did admit, however, to working with Derek Webb, who recently told the BBC’s Newsnight that he spied on more than 100 celebrities, sports stars, politicians and royals for the NoW.

Mahmood, who gave evidence in a room occupied only by lawyers to protect his identity, said he had worked with Webb on a few occasions but insisted that he had been assigned to him by the NoW newsdesk.

‘Fingers were pointing towards the newsdesk’

He later went on to claim that he was not aware of hacking until the arrest of the paper’s former royal editor Clive Goodman in 2006.

Asked if he had heard of any other journalists’ involvement in hacking after the arrest, he replied: ‘Clearly rumours were around, of course, but there was no firm evidence.’

He added that ‘all the fingers were pointing towards the newsdesk”.

Mahmood also told the inquiry that MPs should not have a right to privacy. ‘I don’t think there should be,’said. ‘If you hold public office you should be open to scrutiny.”

He added: ‘We vote for these people, they hold public office, we’d expect a certain kind of behaviour from them,’he said.

‘I don’t think I’d vote for my MP if I knew that he was cheating on his wife.

‘How could I trust him to represent me?”

He said it was different for people like actors and authors, and that in those cases there would have to be grounds to publish the story such as evidence of criminality or hypocrisy.

‘I couldn’t go off-piste and do what I wanted’

Mahmood, who now works for the Sunday Times, said that during his 20-year career at the News of the World his investigations had led to 261 successful criminal prosecutions.

Commenting how story checks at the NoW and Sunday Times compared, he said: “It was a lot more informal at the News of the World newspaper but in essence we still had to satisfy the same criteria. But it was a lot less formal – chats with the newsdesk – there were no meetings.”

The Sunday Times was “a lot more stringent”, he said, before adding that when at the News of the World he was in “constant touch” with lawyers at the company including former News Group Newspapers chief Tom Crone.

“Everything was discussed with the legal team,” he said. “I couldn’t go off-piste and do what I wanted.

‘I had to take legal advice and throughout the investigation I remained in constant touch with our lawyers.”

Mahmood denied ever having worked with Paul McMullan, a claim the former NoW deputy features editor made to the inquiry when he gave evidence last week.

He said: “This came as news to me. I may have seen him [McMullan] in the office. I’ve never worked with the chap. I can’t even recall talking to him. It’s completely untrue.”

Topics in this article :

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network