And they complain about the newspapers here . . .

Worrisome enough when government sting attempts get out of control -- but what about when tabloid newspapers get involved as self-appointed freelancers?

Three men have been cleared of trying to procure a substance which police claimed could have made a "dirty bomb".

They were arrested in September 2004 after trying to buy "red mercury" from an undercover reporter.

The News of the World surely sold a lot of papers as a result; we'll see if it was enough to pay for any forthcoming damage awards.

What is truly absurd is that the substance being negotiated over ("red mercury") is no more real than kryptonite.

[Prosecutor] Ellison told the jury red mercury was believed to be a material which could cause a large explosion, possibly even a nuclear reaction.

He told the court there were different descriptions of the substance described as red mercury. But he added: "The Crown's position is that whether red mercury does or does not exist is irrelevant."

He warned the jury not to get "hung up" on whether red mercury actually existed at all.

From the BBC. And this isn't the first time the News of the World has gone over the line in ferreting out nonexistent crimes -- which very real defendents have had to answer for:

The collapse of the case came two years after the trial of several men accused of attempting to kidnap Victoria Beckham.

That case collapsed after it emerged that Mr Mahmood's main informant, Florim Gashi, had been paid £10,000 for the story.

The Crown Prosecution Service was forced to drop the case because it felt Mr Gashi's evidence could not be considered reliable.

The harm this does to legitimate antiterrorist efforts cannot be overstated:

In November 2005, a 27-year-old man was jailed for four months after he admitted selling a fake story to Mr Mahmood and the News of the World about being lined up to be "the fifth bomber" on 7 July. . .

As a result of the story several anti-terrorist detectives were obliged to look into the allegations and ended up wasting 4,070 hours of police time.

Patel was paid £200 for an interview and was promised £5,000 for his story by the News of the World.

No mention of any punishment being meted out to the newspaper or its editors, however, though their culpability was vastly greater than Patel's.

Posted by David on July 25, 2006 2:40 PM