FAKE SHEIKH ’ S PRIME TIME TV
Rise and fall of ‘ sting king’ journalist
Patrick Hill and David Jarvis
A NEW Amazon series will tell the amazing story of the disgraced investigative journalist dubbed the Fake Sheikh.
Mazher Mahmood went undercover to trick his targets by donning robes and pretending to be a mega-rich Arab.
But the man who won awards for exposing crooks and celebs ended up being jailed himself.
Amazon Prime bosses believe their three-parter about the rise and fall of the “king of the sting” will be a huge hit later this year.
It follows the popularity of a string of shows by rival
Netflix about con-artists, including fake heiress Anna
Sorokin and “Tinder
Swindler” Simon Leviev.
A source said: “Mahmood’s story is fascinating, it has everything.
“He successfully and repeatedly tricked some of the country’s most famous people, including royalty, into believing he was someone he wasn’t.”
Birmingham-born
Mahmood, 59, worked for the News of the World for two decades from 1991, became one of Britain’s best known journalists and claimed to have helped convict over 100 criminals.
They included three Pakistan cricketers he exposed for match fixing in 2010.
London’s Burning actor John Alford also went to jail for supplying cocaine and cannabis to Mahmood in 1997.
Another victim, Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson, was forced to apologise when she appeared to offer access to her former husband Prince Andrew in exchange for £500,000 in 2010.
By disguising himself as a wealthy Arab businessman, Mahmood deceived victims into making outrageous and embarrassing comments.
They included Newcastle United bosses Freddy Shepherd and Douglas Hall who quit after slagging off star player Alan Shearer and manager Kevin Keegan – and describing Newcastle women as “dogs”.
Other targets included the Countess of Wessex and Princess Michael of Kent, who were both duped into gossiping about fellow royals.
However, he was accused of using entrapment and breaking the law without any clear public-interest justification.
His glittering career ended in October 2016 when he was jailed for 15 months after being found guilty of conspiring to pervert the course of justice.
Mahmood had posed as a Bollywood film producer to promise N-dubz and X Factor judge Tulisa a major movie role. He also asked her to arrange a drug deal – and she was later arrested and charged in 2013.
But the case collapsed as Mahmood was found to have altered evidence.
Our source added: “Amazon Prime will tell all about Mahmood’s rise and fall to a whole new generation, not just in Britain, but also around the world.”