Former News of the World investigations editors Mazher Mahmood yesterday told a court that over 20 years at the News of the World he had no knowledge of phone-hacking at the paper.

And undercover reporter Mahmood strongly denied his investigation into an alleged cricket betting scam involving the Pakistan cricket involved the illegal interception of voicemail messages.

He told London’s Southwark Crown Court he had received death threats since publishing the story alleging that a sports agent took bribes to arrange for Pakistan cricketers to bowl deliberate no-balls during the Lord’s Test against England last summer.