Former award-winning undercover British journalist, jailed in 2015 after being found guilty of conspiring to pervert the course of justice. Before his jailing, Mahmood worked mainly for the tabloid press, spending 20 years at the News of the World and Sunday Times, during which time he was responsible for numerous investigations, including a reputed 94 that led to convictions. He became known as the "fake sheikh" due to one alias he assumed during the course of his investigations.
