The unfair ordeal I’m A Celeb’s Tulisa endured when wrongly accused in drugs sting

Tulisa opened up on I’m A Celeb last night to Oti Mabuse about the horrific hell she went through in 2013, where an attempted drugs sting from a disgraced journalist harmed her reputation a lot – even though she did nothing wrong. The case was thrown out and the journalist in question went to prison – but what actually happened between Tulisa and Mazher ‘Fake Sheikh’ Mahmood back in 2013? Here’s the full story explained.

I’m A Celeb star Tulisa spoke about how she was arrested on suspicion of supplying £800 worth of cocaine in 2013 in camp last night, saying the sting was in “2013 was the year I was set up by a British newspaper, for concern in the selling of class A drugs.

“The guy’s name was Mahmood and basically, I was approached by a big movie company and they sent me a tweet or a DM from their official account to audition me for a movie role. I’d dabbled in acting, so this opportunity for me was huge. I was having meetings with these producers, they flew me out to Las Vegas, first class flights, limousines, 5 star hotels.”

Mazher Mahmood

She said she was offered £3.5 mil by a film producer for it. “So I was told, as I wasn’t an actress, I was less likely to get the role and the only reason I would get it is if I was the girl in the role, and the girl in the role was this bad girl from London who was constantly up to naughtiness, rolling with gangs, up to all kinds of naughty stuff.”

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She says every time they’d meet up ‘they’d ask for drugs’, before saying: “After months and months, eventually they got a number and it was of someone that wasn’t even a drug dealer, it was an aspiring movie producer and I wanted to make a hook up as well for that person, but I didn’t know anyone that could do that.

“Long story short is they ended up ordering £800’s worth of cocaine from the number that I had given them. Then before I knew it, I was being arrested in the concern of the selling of Class A drugs and I was facing four years in prison.”

When the trail went ahead, Mazher Mahmood’s lies had caught up with him. He had gone to great lengths to try and entrap Tulisa. After Tulisa’s defence told the court that he believed Mahmood had been lying, he called in a former associate of Mahmood’s Florim Gashi, who told the court he used to help Mahmood “make up stories for his newspaper”.

Judge Alastair McCreath told the court he believed Mazher Mahmood had lied giving evidence, and halted the trail. Judge McCreath explained “Where there has been some aspect of the investigation or prosecution of a crime which is tainted in some way by serious misconduct to the point that the integrity of the court would be compromised by allowing the trial to go ahead, in that sense the court would be seen to be sanctioning or colluding in that sort of behaviour, then the court has no alternative but to say, ‘This case must go no further’.”

I’m A Celeb 2024’s Tulisa delivered an impassioned statement after the drugs sting trial was halted, saying outside the court “Let me be perfectly clear: I have never dealt drugs, and never been involved in taking or dealing cocaine. This whole case was a horrific and disgusting entrapment by Mazher Mahmood and The Sun on Sunday newspaper. Mahmood has now been exposed by my lawyers, openly lying to the judge and jury.

“These lies were told to stop crucial evidence going before the jury. This evidence showed that I told Mahmood’s longstanding driver that I disapproved of drugs – which is the truth. It is clear that the driver was pressurised to change his statement to strengthen Mahmood’s evidence and damage to mine. Thankfully, the lies have been uncovered and justice has been done.

Tulisa speaking after the trial was thrown out

“This case only happened because The Sun on Sunday, Mahmood and his team tricked me into believing I was auditioning for a major movie role. They targeted me at a time when things were going badly for me and they had no mercy. Mahmood got me and my time completely intoxicated, and persuaded me to act the part of a bad, rough, ghetto girl.

“They recorded this and produced it as evidence when I thought it was an audition. It was a terrible thing to do. As my lawyer has said at the outset, we have now succeeded in exposing the real culprits – and most importantly, the real liar. As someone who has had my life ruined by the last year, I strongly believe that this type of entrapment should not be allowed to happen to anyone.

“I urge both police and News UK to investigate Mazher Mahmood and his team, and to put an end to his deceit in pursuit of sensational stories for commercial gain. I have not been able to work for a year – and I am now looking forward to resuming my career. I will use this experience to make me stronger.”

After the trial collapsed, Mahmood was suspended by The Sun in July 2014.

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