Reporter may face charges in Giggs case
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Your support makes all the difference.A judge asked prosecutors yesterday to consider bringing drug charges against a News of the World investigative reporter after a court cleared the brother of a Manchester United football star of supplying cocaine.
Rhodri Giggs, 22, the brother of Ryan Giggs, was acquitted of supplying drugs at a Manchester nightclub after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) offered no evidence.
David Friesner, for the prosecution, told the Crown Court in Manchester that the CPS had serious concerns over evidence relating to tape recorded and telephone conversations between Mr Giggs and the News of the World.
Mr Friesner said that the Crown could not now resist the defence's application to exclude this evidence.
Judge Stuart Fish formally acquitted Mr Giggs, then asked whether charges of inciting to supply drugs and illegal possession had been considered against the reporter, Mazher Mahmood.
Mr Friesner replied: "It is not something that has been considered, though it has crossed my mind."
To which Judge Fish said: "I am sure it is a matter that will receive some attention and consideration."
Mr Mahmood was named Reporter of the Year at the British Press awards a year ago, and has written a series of articles exposing public figures as cocaine users. Johnnie Walker, the Radio 2 disc jockey, the Earl of Hardwicke, and John Alford, an actor in the television programme London's Burning, have all found themselves splashed across the pages of the News of the World.
Mr Giggs was arrested in October after being accused by the News of the World of supplying cocaine to an undercover reporter. After the case, he said that he was considering suing the newspaper, alleging that he was the victim of a "set up".
Next to the article published last April headlined "Giggsy's brother peddles cocaine and vice", Mr Giggs was pictured posing with his brother, Ryan, and Mr Mahmood, the newspaper's investigations editor, outside the £16m Marriot Hotel and Country Club in Worsley, Greater Manchester.
He was also branded a "vile drugs peddler" and pictures were published of cocaine allegedly sold by him. It was claimed that the former Torquay United apprentice from Swinton had been secretly taped in a nightclub talking about supplying the drug.
When the article appeared, Rhodri Giggs lost his job as an estate agent for London-based City Lets International. He was subsequently charged with supplying cocaine. Mr Giggs had been due to face trial in May this year.
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