By Nick Harris 21 September 2010 David Douglas, the former high-ranking Metropolitan Police officer who investigated match-fixing allegations against the world No1 snooker player John Higgins, has spoken in detail for the first time about why he concluded Higgins never intended to fix any match. Higgins was banned earlier this month for six months, and […]

By Nick Harris 5 September 2010 The cricket ‘spot-fixing scandal’ took its latest extraordinary twist this evening when the Pakistan batsman, Yasir Hameed, released a statement detailing how the News of the World – and specifically its investigations editor, Mazher Mahmood – had misrepresented Hameed’s views, had offered to pay him £25,000 to talk about […]

By Nick Harris 4 February 2011 The three Pakistan cricketers at the centre of the ‘spot-fix’ scandal arising from the fourth Test against England at Lord’s last summer are to face criminal charges, the Crown Prosecution Service has announced today. Separately, Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir will discover on Saturday the verdicts from […]

By Nick Harris 6 December 2010 John Higgins celebrated his returned to major action following his six month ban with a 9-6 win over Stephen Lee in the UK Championship in Telford, and faces Graeme Dott next for a place in the quarter-finals. But the Scot has conceded he will never shake off the stigma […]

By Nick Harris 7 September 2010 The disciplinary tribunal sitting in judgement on allegations that the world No1 snooker player John Higgins agreed a £261,000 bribe in April to lose frames at future matches entered a second session at 2pm this afternoon with the outcome unclear but a result expected within 36 hours. The first […]

By Nick Harris 3 September 2010 As controversy continues to surround the manipulated events at the recent fourth Test between England and Pakistan – events orchestrated and paid for by the News of the World to demonstrate corruptibility – and as the New York Times investigates allegations of illegal phone hacking at the NotW – the News […]

By Nick Harris 31 August 2010 The News of the World’s front page headline on 9 May (below) said ‘Higgins bet on himself to LOSE’ (NotW’s capitals), which might have suggested to some readers that the Higgins in question – John Higgins, the world No1 snooker player – had bet on himself to lose. In […]

By Nick Harris 18 June 2010 A second analysis of the News of the World video purporting to show the world No1 snooker player, John Higgins, agreeing to lose frames for cash has concluded that sections of the film have been ‘pasted together’, leading to a misrepresentation of events. A forensic musicologist, using specialist equipment […]

. [Update on 8 May, at 9.15am uk time. This story contains links to a fake website used in the News of the World sting. That website is no longer ‘live’, as of this morning, funnily enough. As part of sportingintelligence’s initial look at how the sting was arranged, we screen-saved the fake website, and […]

By Nick Harris 2 May 2010 An investigation by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association into allegations that the world No1, John Higgins, agreed to accept money to lose frames is likely to start and end with the WPBSA and is unlikely to involve the Gambling Commission, let alone the police, sportingintelligence understands. The Commission […]