The most famous is the News of the World's own "fake sheikh", Mazher Mahmood, its investigations editor.

BBC: Tabloid tactics

"Our story resulted from a thorough and legitimate investigation by Mazher Mahmood, one of the paper's most senior and experienced reporters, whose exposes have led to over 200 convictions, " she said.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Trio cleared of red mercury plot

But that was also one of her failures: the paper's chief investigative reporter, Mazher Mahmood, dressed up as a Middle Eastern sheikh to lure Sophie and her then-partner, Murray Harkin, into implied admissions that her royal connections could be used to the benefit of clients of their PR agency.

BBC: Changing faces at The Sun