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The trial collapsed at the Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court when the star witness was withdrawn by the Crown Prosecution Service after it said he was no longer considered a "witness of truth".

Florim Gashi, an Albanian parking attendant originally from Kosovo, was due to give evidence at the trial of five men charged with the kidnap plot. He had been paid £10,000 for his story by the News of the World.

With no other evidence, the trial of the men collapsed. The judge in the case told the court: "I am minded to refer the whole of this matter to the Attorney General to consider the temptations, which money being offered in return for stories, in particular about celebrities, gives rise to."

In today's Sun, sister newspaper to the News of the World, the paper says: "News of the World bosses who exposed a Victoria Beckham kidnap plot were perplexed last night after the alleged gang's trial collapsed." The Sun is edited by Rebekah Wade, who was editor of the News of the World at the time of the kidnap case.

When the News of the World revealed the kidnap plot last November, it was the latest in a long line of sensational scoops by Mahmood, who is most famous for taping Countess of Wessex, wife of Prince Edward, making candid comments about both the royal family and Cherie Blair when he posed as a sheikh seeking the counsel of her PR firm.

Mahmood's exposes have lead to more than 100 convictions, according to The Sun. The kidnap gang were to be no different. Their arrests took place following a tip off from the News of the World and they were arrested under the gaze of television cameras sent by the News of the World on a Saturday, just in time for the newspaper's Sunday splash.

The collapse of the trial has once again led to questions over the payment of witness in criminal investigations by newspapers. Other high-profile cases threatened by media payments include that of Canadian schoolteacher Amy Gehring, who was acquitted of indecently assaulting two underage boys in 2002.

The government has considered legislation on the matter, but accepted the strengthening of self-regulation as an alternative. However, it has said that if the problem persists, despite the stricter rules, the government will introduce legislation.

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