A police officer has told a court of his surprise when a potential witness in the trial of the singer Tulisa Contostavlos changed his evidence.
Mazher Mahmood, 53, known as the Fake Sheikh, and his driver Alan Smith, 67, are accused of altering a statement made to police that revealed the former N-Dubz singer and X Factor judge disapproved of drugs in order to prevent questions being raised over a newspaper sting against her.
Mahmood, seeking a scoop, had posed as a wealthy Bollywood producer promising the singer and aspiring actor a lead role in a major film alongside Leonardo DiCaprio.
Contostavlos had allegedly arranged for the journalist to be sold half an ounce (14g) of cocaine by one of her contacts for £800, the jury at the Old Bailey heard. As a result Contostavlos faced trial for allegedly being concerned in the supply of the class A drug.
But the case was halted when it emerged Smith, who had driven Contostavlos and two associates home after an alcohol-fuelled night with Mahmood in London, had changed the original version of events he gave to police after contact with the reporter.
He told DS Andrew Nicklin, who was drafting his statement on 23 June 2014, that the singer “seemed really negative about cocaine and expressed her disapproval of drugs”, the jury heard. But Smith changed the statement the following day, removing the anti-drugs passage.
At the Old Bailey on Thursday, Nicklin said of the change: “I was surprised. There was no doubt about the statement earlier and it was the most significant part of his statement.”
He said he had previously read Smith’s initial statement back to him without him raising any objections. “I remember him saying yes, yes, yes, repeatedly,” Nicklin told the court.
The jury also heard that about a month after taking Smith’s account of events, Nicklin, in a witness statement, wrote that the driver told him after informing the officer of the singer’s comments about her disapproval of drugs: “I know it doesn’t help your case [against Contostavlos].”
But Nicklin later removed that line from his witness statement, he told the court, because he was not satisfied he could accurately remember what was said.
Prosecuting, Sarah Forshaw QC said Nicklin emailed the draft statement to Smith the next day. She said email and call data showed that in approximately six minutes after Smith accessed his email account for the first time after being sent the draft, there were eight text messages sent back and forth between the defendants, and that Smith made a six-second call to Mahmood.
Longer calls followed, as well as more texts, and both defendants accessed their email accounts. Mahmood, a reporter with the Sun and Sun on Sunday, also called the legal department of the Times, which has the same owner as the tabloids.
Later that day, Smith called Nicklin requesting that his statement be changed. Communication between Mahmood and Smith continued the next morning when the amended statement was sent by Nicklin to Smith.
The contents of the emails and texts are not available because they were deleted or destroyed the court heard.
Mahmood and Smith are charged with conspiring together to do an act, namely that Smith would change a draft statement to police, with the intention to pervert the course of justice.
Both deny the charge. The case continues.
