We are waiting with eager curiosity to see the strength of Mazher Mahmood’s resolve to keep his identity secret. The News of the World has previously sought and been granted injunctions against the publishing of photographs showing his likeness, notably against the Guardian, after George Galloway rumbled him in February 2006. In the new paperback edition of News of the world? Fake Sheikhs & Royal Trappings, we have published a clear, unequivocal shot of Mahmood in his bogus middle eastern garb when he came to sting Princess Michael of Kent. He is standing with his friend, travel agent Aseem Kazi, who posed as Pervaiz Khan, potential buyer of Prince Michael’s house, Nether Lypiatt. Behind them is the pilot of the helicopter, hired by News International to bring them there, and to enhance the deception.

As a thoroughly discredited journalist on a morally bust newspaper, it seems unlikely that he would have any case to put to a judge to preserve his anonymity. He has wasted millions of pounds in police time, court time, and prison service costs by causing innocent men to be held on remand for months at a time, following some of his highly fanciful investigative stings. He is a menace to the public and, as demonstrated by his story in last Sunday’s Screws, pointing up security weaknesses at Buckingham Palace (for any potential terrorist to see), a serious danger to national security.

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