Court hears undercover reporter told police: ‘Tulisa dealt crack’

The ‘Fake Sheikh’ claimed prosecutors wanted to drop the case against former X Factor judge Tulisa despite ‘irrefutable evidence’ she had arranged to supply cocaine, the Old Bailey heard.

Mazher Mahmood, 53, is accused of influencing driver Alan Smith, 67, to change his witness statement which showed the singer was anti-drugs.

But the self-styled ‘king of the sting’ told police he had no need to tamper with evidence because the case against the former N-Dubz star was so strong.

In a prepared statement, he said: ‘I would have had absolutely no reason to ask Mr Smith to add or subtract anything from his statement as I had gathered irrefutable evidence that Ms Contostavlos arranged a supply of cocaine and that was all that mattered in regards to the Tulisa case.’

Mahmood explained how he posed as an influential film producer, Samir Khan, in an undercover sting after he was tipped off in December 2012 about Tulisa ‘regularly taking drugs and arranging to supply drugs to friends’.

Jurors have heard how he duped the aspiring actress, 28, into believing she was the favourite to land a £3.5 million role in a blockbuster Bollywood film alongside Leonardo DiCaprio.

Mahmood took her on a no-expenses spared trip to Las Vegas on 28 March 2013, then wined and dined her in a top London hotel on the night of 10 May.

‘She told me she regularly takes cannabis to help her sleep and offered to supply me with cocaine,’ he said.

‘She told me she was connected with major drug dealers and said her ex-boyfriend, Adam Bailey, was a massive cocaine dealer.’

Mahmood explained how Tulisa used the code words ‘green sweets’ for cannabis and ‘white sweets’ for cocaine – which she said she didn’t take herself.

‘She previously admitted selling crack cocaine in London and said that because of her looks and gender she evaded police,’ the reporter continued.

He said on 21 May 2013 he received a text from the popstar which read: ‘Let me know when you land so I can sort you out.’

Tulisa later supplied him with a phone number, which he called to arrange to buy half an ounce of cocaine from Michael Coombs, known as Mike GLC, the court heard.

Mahmood told police how Coombs had boasted of his connections with Tulisa, who he would be going on holiday to Marbella with the following day.

The journalist is accused of asking Smith to change his statement to remove reference to a conversation in which Tulisa mentioned a drug-addicted relative, which took place in the back of his car.

‘I am adamant I didn’t ask him to make changes to his statement. This would clearly be wrong,’ he said.

He is also accused of misleading the court during a pre-trial hearing in which he allegedly denied knowledge of the conversation in the back of Smith’s car.

But he said: ‘The answer was honest in the context of the question as I understood it at the time.’

He continued: ‘I was not deliberately covering up the fact that we had spoken, but answering the question I thought I had been asked.’

Tulisa’s trial was stopped after Mahmood gave evidence in Tulisa’s trial and he was suspended by his employer, News UK.

‘I was thoroughly confused. I was doing my best to answer the questions but was steamrollered into answers,’ he said.

‘It felt like all sides were trying to discredit me and it was a difficult and uncomfortable experience.’

He added: ‘In my view, she had been involved in the unlawful supply of drugs and supplied those drugs when under no pressure to do so.

‘As such, I had no need to suppress, manipulate, or change evidence.

‘I believe the court was looking for an excuse to drip the case and seized on an opportunity without proper analysis.’

Mahmood, of Brighton Road, Purley, Surrey, and Smith of Daffodil Way, Dereham, Norfolk, deny conspiring to pervert the course of justice and are on unconditional bail.

The trial, which is expected to last up to three weeks, continues.

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