More embarrassing allegations have been made about a Sunday newspaper by a photographer dismissed for faking shots of the alleged Beast of Bodmin.

Steve Grayson, who lives in Pinner, brought a claim for unfair dismissal against the News of the World after being sacked in November last year for trying to pass off a set of photographs as images of the so-called beast.

In fact, the photograph was of a semi-tame puma and had been taken in the Dartmoor wildlife park where it lived. The paper had planned to use the photographs across several pages in what it hoped would have been a major exclusive.

But Mr Grayson was forced to admit the photographs had been mocked up after coming under sustained pressure from the newspaper's management, who had become increasingly suspicious about his story.

During hearings at Stratford Industrial Tribunal in east London last week, Mr Grayson claimed that he had been put under pressure by his managers to "stunt" the photos, adding that there was a culture of fabrication at the News of the World.

His claims have enraged the newspaper's managing editor Stuart Kuttner, who told the tribunal that Mr Grayson had produced no evidence to back up his allegations.

The tribunal also heard evidence from the newspaper's investigations editor Mazher Mahmood, whose own reporting techniques came under the spotlight as he denied his former colleague's allegations.

Mr Mahmood said 93 of his 300 investigations for the paper had led to criminal convictions, which is why he had been labelled an agent provocateur. As a result of his investigations over the past seven years he had received death threats and was accompanied by two bodyguards when he arrived at the tribunal.

A longstanding friend of Mr Grayson, Mr Mahmood had tried to persuade him to admit the photographs were fakes, but this ended up generating friction between the photographer and the newspaper's features department.

"I was happy to slag off features," Mr Mahmood admitted. "I always am."

Mr Mahmood told the tribunal that Mr Grayson had been eclipsed by his own son-in-law, who also worked as a photographer for the newspaper and was getting more by-lines. He thought Mr Grayson's actions had been some attempt to "grab back the limelight".

The hearing was adjourned and is expected to resume in the new year.

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