mazerTwo men have been convicted of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, today, Wednesday, 5 October.

Mazher Mahmood, 53 (16.03.63) of Purley, Croydon and Alan Smith, 67 (30.06.49) of Dereham, Norfolk were convicted following a two-week long trial at the Old Bailey.

The case arose out of allegations of perjury during the Tulisa Contostavlos trial. The court heard Mahmood and Smith agreed to change the content of the latter’s draft statement with the intention of disadvantaging Tulisa Contostavlos in the defence of the case against her.

Mr Smith had initially given a truthful statement to police, however the timing and sequence of phone and email contact between the defendants indicated that Mahmood was involved in the account being changed. He then sought to conceal the contact he had with Smith when giving evidence. Both defendants then destroyed or deleted potentially incriminating evidence.

The investigation was carried out by the Met’s Special Enquiry Team.

Officer in the case, Detective Constable Jim Morrison, said:

“This case is a reminder that perverting the course of justice is a very serious offence that goes to heart of our justice system. We will always take action where statements or other evidence has been tampered with.”

Both men have been bailed ahead of sentencing at the same court on 21 October.

Leave a Reply