A drugs prosecution against a Colliers Wood man has been dropped because it was based on a sting by the 'fake sheikh’ who targeted X Factor star Tulisa Contostavlos.

Leon Anderson, 28, was facing two charges of dealing class A drugs alongside Ashley Gordon, 22, after an alleged drug deal at the Metropolitan Hotel in Old Park Lane in May last year.

Both could have been sent to prison if found guilty.

The charges related to 1.06 grammes of cocaine and 1 gramme of MDMA.

But the Crown Prosecution Service said last week it would not offer evidence against both men because of the involvement of News International's fake sheikh Mazher Mahmood.

He is understood to have conducted the sting which led to their arrest and prosecution as a dry run before his undercover operation on Miss Contostavlos.

The drug-dealing charge case against her collapsed after judge Alistair McCreath told Southwark Crown Court he believed Mr Mahmood had lied while giving evidence.

A CPS spokeswoman said: "This case was re-reviewed following the conclusion of the case of R v Contostavlos and Coombs and the ruling made by HHJ McCreath on  July 21.

"The outcome of this re-review is that there is no longer a realistic prospect of conviction.

"We have therefore offered no evidence against Mr Gordon. 

"We have also informed the court of our intention to offer no evidence against Mr Anderson.”

Mr Anderson, of Boundary Road, Colliers Wood, and Mr Gordon, of Somerville Road, Romford, had not entered a plea to the charges against them.