Undercover journalist Mazher Mahmood, also known as the “Fake Sheikh”, has been jailed for tampering with evidence in the collapsed drugs trial of pop star Tulisa Contostavlos.
Following a two-week trial at the Old Bailey, a jury found the 53-year-old "King of the Sting" and his driver Alan Smith (67) guilty of plotting to pervert the course of justice.
Judge Gerald Gordon jailed Mahmood for 15 months, saying that while he accepted he had done "some good work" in his long career, there could be no justification for what he had done and custody was inevitable.
He handed Smith 12 months, suspended for two years, saying he had been motivated in part by “misguided loyalty”.
As Mahmood was jailed, someone in the public gallery shouted “your turn now Mazher” to the journalist, who claims to have helped in the convictions of 100 criminals during his 25 years of investigative reporting.
Following the guilty verdicts last month, it was announced that 18 civil claims were being launched against Mahmood, which could total some £800 million.
The Crown Prosecution Service has already dropped a number of live cases and reviewed 25 past convictions.
Six of those involving mainly high-profile individuals have been taken up by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
PA