Canadian newspaper pays £5,400 to drug dealer for mayor’s pictures allegedly smoking crack

London: Canada’s Globe and Mail paid $10,000 (Dh33,670 or £5,400) to a drug dealer to acquire images from a video showing Toronto’s mayor, Rob Ford, allegedly smoking crack cocaine.

Editor David Walmsley told readers: “The photographs we published are a price worth paying.”

He explained: “The Globe was offered the opportunity to buy still images from these videos by an admitted drug dealer. This is not our normal practice. But in this instance, the Globe felt it was a matter of public interest, and that readers needed to see what our reporters watched and reported on.”

After Ford was confronted with the paper’s evidence he announced that he was taking a leave of absence from campaigning for re-election to the mayoralty. But he could well be back. His lawyer Dennis Morris said: “He has to take a break to re-energise because he realises he has flaws that have to be addressed.”