Unravelling non-state entrapment—the effect on previous convictions

Article summary

Corporate Crime analysis: Mazher Mahmood has today been sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment for conspiring to pervert the course of justice together with his accomplice Alan Smith. The charge related to their manipulation of evidence to fit Mahmood’s story that Tulisa Contostavlos was a regular user and supplier of Class A drugs, thereby bolstering the prosecution case against her. Smith had originally provided the police with a witness statement concerning a conversation he overheard, during which Tulisa had expressed her disapproval of the use of drugs. At the instigation of Mahmood, Smith changed that statement to remove those comments. Ben Rose and Chris du Boulay of Hickman & Rose, who represented Tulisa, discuss some of the issues arising out of Mahmood’s conviction.