By Amanda Williams From Daily Mail UK

Panorama programme featured up-to-date pictures of the reporter

Comes after attempts by Mahmood to block broadcast amid safety fears

Reporter’s elaborate set-ups led to the exposure of dozens of celebrities

The programme heard from former celebrity stings and associates of Mr Mahmood, who claimed that he set them up and targeted them unfairly

They included London’s Burning actor and child star John Alford

He spent nine months in prison after he claims Mr Mahmood entrapped him

The CPS said it will be looking back at operations carried out by Mahmood

Undercover journalist Mazher Mahmood has tonight been unmasked in a BBC documentary, despite an 11th hour attempt by him to block the broadcaster from showing his image.

The Panorama programme, featuring up-to-date pictures of the ‘Fake Sheikh’, heard from former celebrity stings and associates of Mr Mahmood, who claimed that he set them up and targeted them unfairly.

Among them was former London’s Burning actor and child star John Alford, who spent nine months in prison after he claims Mr Mahmood entrapped him into supplying cocaine.

Undercover journalist Mazher Mahmood (seen in recent footage) has tonight been unmasked in a BBC documentary, despite an 11th hour attempt by him to block the broadcaster from showing his image.

Undercover journalist Mazher Mahmood (seen in recent footage) has tonight been unmasked in a BBC documentary, despite an 11th hour attempt by him to block the broadcaster from showing his image.

The Panorama programme, featuring up-to-date pictures of the ‘Fake Sheikh’, heard from former celebrity stings and associates of Mr Mahmood, who claimed that he set them up and targeted them unfairly

The Panorama programme, featuring up-to-date pictures of the ‘Fake Sheikh’, heard from former celebrity stings and associates of Mr Mahmood, who claimed that he set them up and targeted them unfairly

The reporter’s elaborate set-ups led to the exposure of dozens of people, from hapless royals to hardened criminals while he worked for the now defunct News of the World.. He is pictured while posing as a Sheikh in the 1990s

The reporter’s elaborate set-ups led to the exposure of dozens of people, from hapless royals to hardened criminals while he worked for the now defunct News of the World.. He is pictured while posing as a Sheikh in the 1990s

While working for the News of The World, the investigative journalist fooled Mr Alford into thinking he was a movie producer who could make him £1million working alongside his idols Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone.

But the sting resulted in him being sent to jail, leaving his life in tatters and Mr Alford on the brink of suicide.

The reporter’s elaborate set-ups led to the exposure of dozens of people, from hapless royals to hardened criminals while he worked for the now defunct News of the World.

The Crown Prosecution Service has now confirmed that although no-one is currently in prison as a result of Mr Mahmood’s investigations, it will be looking back at operations carried out by the reporter which resulted in prosecutions.

Mr Mahmood told the BBC that he had used legitimate investigatory methods and had brought many individuals to justice as a result.

On Friday, the reporter launched a High Court challenge to prevent his image from being broadcast.

Mr Mahmood had argued in court that revealing his current appearance would breach his human rights by exacerbating the existing risk to his safety caused by his investigative work.

Although the High Court did not grant Mr Mahmood an injunction to stop the screening on Monday – a decision upheld by the Court of Appeal – the broadcaster pulled the programme until new information put forward by Mr Mahmood’s lawyers could be evaluated.

The Panorama programme instead went ahead tonight.

It heard from Steve Grayson, a former associate of Mr Mahmood, who claimed that they created newspaper stories to target celebrities unfairly, including Page Three glamour model Emma Morgan.

In the 1990s the pair worked together to convince the model she was being offered a lucrative contract for a Middle East bikini calendar.

Among them was former London’s Burning actor and child star John Alford, who spent nine months in prison after he claims Mr Mahmood entrapped him into supplying cocaine

Former Page Three glamour model Emma Morgan was also caught out by the Fake Sheikh, and says her career suffered as a result

Instead, Mr Grayson said, they were trying to expose her as a ‘drug pusher’.

He described how they had hired a man called Billy to act as her bodyguard and assist them in the deal.

Ms Morgan, who was 24 at the time she was covertly filmed taking cannabis and cocaine, claims she was pressured for several hours to later supply the pair with the class A drug which she obtained from ‘Billy’.

But Mr Grayson said: ‘He is a drug dealer, we’re drug dealers, we have paid this guy to supply the drugs to give to her.’

Billy told Panorama: ‘The only real criminal was Mazher Mahmood, he gave me the money to buy the cocaine.

Ms Morgan added: ‘I was a fool, I was naive. To be foolish isn’t a crime, to be naive isn’t a crime, to do what he did is criminal.

‘I haven’t had the career I should have had. I haven’t had the life I should have had. He’s a horrible, horrible man.’

Solicitor Mark Lewis helped uncover the phone hacking at the News of the World and is representing some of Mr Mahmood’s targets

Former Attorney General Lord Goldsmith has also called for the reporter’s record to be re-examined

Mr Grayson was eventually fired from the News of the World for faking images of the Beast of Bodmin Moor.

Mr Mahmood has denied acting improperly, and accused the Panorama account of events of being wrong and misleading.

Mr Mahmood was the key prosecution witness against former N-Dubz singer Tulisa Contostavlos, but the case collapsed in July when judge Alistair McCreath told the jury at Southwark Crown Court that there were ‘strong grounds’ to believe that Mr Mahmood had lied on the witness stand and ‘had been manipulating the evidence’.

Mr Mahmood, who denies any wrongdoing and has not been charged, is currently suspended by The Sun and a number of cases in which he was set to be a witness have been dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service while investigations continue.

Solicitor Mark Lewis helped uncover the phone hacking at the News of the World and is representing some of Mr Mahmood’s targets.

He told Panorama: ‘The damage that’s caused, the damage for people’s livelihoods, the amount of people sent to prison, it’s a far more serious thing than phone hacking ever was.’

And former Attorney General Lord Goldsmith called for the reporter’s record to be re-examined.

‘The fact that somebody who has been accused by a judge of apparently of not telling the truth may be instrumental in those convictions would certainly be a reason to look at those convictions again and to examine them to see whether they are safe.’

The CPS has since said it had identified three cases involving evidence from Mr Mahmood where there was no longer a realistic prospect of conviction.

It told Panorama that no-one was currently in prison as a result of Mr Mahmood’s evidence, but it was also looking at past cases.

Mr Mahmood said he had spent his career investigating crime and wrongdoing, and had conducted his investigations legitimately, bringing many to justice.

He added that the criticism levelled at him usually came from the people he had exposed or those he had worked with and who had ‘an axe to grind’.

Panoram also heard from Steve Grayson, a former associate of Mr Mahmood, who claimed that they created newspaper stories to target celebrities unfairly

Panoram also heard from Steve Grayson, a former associate of Mr Mahmood, who claimed that they created newspaper stories to target celebrities unfairly

John Bryan, an American financial manager who was pictured kissing Sarah Ferguson’s feet in the ‘toegate scandal’ also appeared on the programme, claiming Mr Mahmood had set him up

MailOnline has contacted Mr Mahmood’s representatives for comment.

Last week, Mr Mahmood’s counsel Adam Speker told the High Court judge that showing his current appearance in a broadcast which was likely to be watched by millions was intrusive and not in the public interest.

Because of his work, threats had been made to Mr Mahmood, who lived a reclusive life in secure accommodation with 24-hour surveillance and where his neighbours did not know his real identity, he said.

The programme, was described by Mr Mahmood’s counsel, Justin Rushbrooke QC as a ‘hatchet job’,

Ahead of the broadcast a BBC spokesperson said: ‘The BBC had intended to broadcast Panorama, Fake Sheikh: Exposed tonight following the Court of Appeal’s decision earlier today to allow the BBC to broadcast images of Mazher Mahmood.

‘Shortly before transmission Mr Mahmood’s lawyers submitted new information relating to one of the cases in the programme which, as a responsible broadcaster, the BBC needs to evaluate. Once this has been done we will broadcast Fake Sheikh: Exposed, including recent footage of Mr Mahmood, as planned.’

Mr Mahmood later said: ‘I hope the BBC will see sense and postpone any broadcast until the conclusion of any proceedings.

‘I hope then that they will review and consider the evidence properly (and not threaten broadcast without the full facts) and stop the broadcast. This may be a vain hope. They are determined to condemn me whatever the truth.

‘In the meantime, if they do go ahead, I would ask anyone interested to keep an open mind on any allegations they do indeed make.’

Tulisa makes statement after collapse of trial

MAZHER MAHMOOD: SUCCESSFUL STINGS AND HIGH-PROFILE FAILURES

In 2011, Mahmood exposed the Pakistan cricket cheats whose fixing scandal rocked the sport.

His trademark disguise was born in 1984 when he was sent to expose a vice ring operating out of a hotel near the Birmingham National Exhibition Centre.

He decided to pose as a wealthy young Arab looking to buy a Ferrari. With a huge gold Rolex on his wrist and a deferential entourage of hired hands surrounding him, the ‘King of the Stings’ found he could get access to pretty much any well-known individual.

In 2005, Princess Michael of Kent was exposed by the Fake Sheikh making some startling comments about fellow royals. She described the late Princess Diana as a ‘nasty’ woman and said Prince Charles had merely married a ‘womb’.

But his career has featured some high-profile failures. In 2002, he claimed to have uncovered a plot to kidnap Victoria Beckham and her sons and ransom them for £5million.

Five men were arrested. But the case collapsed as the main witness, a Kosovan asylum seeker, was deemed unreliable and had been paid £10,000 for the story.

In 2006, he clashed with George Galloway, who claimed the reporter attempted to trap him by posing as an Islamic businessman.

The Respect MP responded by circulating photos on the internet Mahmood – threatening his anonymity – after the journalist failed in his bid to ban their publication.

For more on this story go to http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2831989/Fake-Sheikh-Mazher-Mahmood-finally-unmasked-BBC-Panorama-CPS-announces-look-convictions-result-stings.html#ixzz3Ix6SqlDA