In off the black; snooker bribery claim

John Higgins, the former World Snooker champion, has been suckered by an elaborate News of the World sting to throw some frames at a tournament later in the year and has been suspended from the circuit.

Great excuse, though. He thought he was in a meeting with the Russian mafia and 'agreed to their proposals' simply to get out of the situation 'alive'.

It remains to be seen if the enquiry into the sting justifies his behaviour. The problem is that smears of this sort are hard to expunge. When an allegation is made but then followed by a correction, research shows that people who believe the original charge will be even more convinced by the subsequent rebuttal on the grounds that there is no smoke without fire.

If Mr Higgins is telling the truth, he will have to sue the News of the World and lobby the Press Complaints Commission into muzzling the tabloid's so-called 'investigative journalists'.


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