IT COULD be exactly six years after the Daily Mirror published its infamous article advising readers to buy shares in Viglen that its City Slickers columnists are sent to jail.

The Mirror tip, which caused shares in Sir Alan Sugar’s computer company almost to double in value on January 18, 2000, set off one of the biggest scandals in British journalism.

Dubbed “Mirrorgate”, it led both James Hipwell and Anil Bhoyrul to Southwark Crown Court, where a seven-week trial ended yesterday. Hipwell and Terry Shepherd, a day trader, were found guilty of conspiring to manipulate the stock market by misleading investors about shares’ potential value. Bhoyrul had already pleaded guilty in mid-August. Sentence is due in the week beginning January 16.

The court case came after a long investigation by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) that cost millions of pounds, as well as a damning report by the Press Complaints Commission (PCC).

The four-year investigation by the DTI was criticised for proceeding at a snail’s pace, when the department’s American counterparts completed action over larger corporate scandals, such as Enron or Worldcom, in far less time.

In 2000, the PCC issued one of its harshest rulings, censuring Hipwell and Bhoyrul for “flagrant, multiple breaches” of the industry’s code of practice. The rules forbid journalists to seek to profit from financial information or buy and sell shares they write about. The PCC also criticised the “cavalier” culture and “climate of slack” at the Mirror.

Piers Morgan, Editor at the time, also came in for criticism, for failing to prevent the Slickers from recommending shares that they had already bought. Mr Morgan, who had bought shares in Viglen the day that the Slickers tipped it, had also broken the code, the PCC said.

The DTI decided not to prosecute him, although the journalists said that he knew of the Slickers’ Viglen column at the time he bought the shares. He has denied the allegation.

An internal inquiry at the Mirror exonerated Mr Morgan, declaring that there were “no grounds” for any accusations of impropriety, but it did not clear Hipwell and Bhoyrul, who were sacked for gross misconduct in February 2000.

Only days before issuing the Viglen tip, the pair had told Martin Cruddace, a Mirror lawyer, that they were concerned about leaks from their column.

Yet, in the preceding months, Hipwell had used bulletin boards to leak their tips in advance to day traders. The column was thriving in the heady days of the dot-com boom, with investors hungry for share tips that could make them cash.

Though operating under a several pseudonyms, which included Golfballs, William Corlyon and more colourful nicknames, Hipwell was not concerned about concealing his identity, giving the Slicker column e-mail address for contact.

During testimony, Hipwell described Mr Morgan as a “hands-on” editor who encouraged the Slickers to trade and had “great interest” in their column. It is understood that Mr Morgan denies the allegation.

Hipwell also claimed he made no attempt to hide his trading. Although he never met Shepherd, they were in regular contact for 2½ months from late November 1999 until the Slickers were fired. Shepherd, who often bought shares in the same companies as the Slickers and on the same day, also leaked their information to bulletin boards.

Lawyers for Hipwell, who had a kidney transplant in 2002, are expected to plead for leniency because of his ill-health.

Last night the DTI hailed the verdict as a triumph. The Financial Services Authority, which has taken over the DTI’s power to investigate market manipulation, does not plan to take any further action.

Who’s who in the Mirrorgate scandal

Piers Morgan was Mirror Editor at the time. Hipwell claimed at trial that senior figures at the Mirror sought to shield Mr Morgan during an internal investigation into his share dealings. But Mr Morgan was not asked to testify by lawyers for the prosecution or the defence.

Mr Morgan, who is 40, was forced to leave the Mirror after publication of fake photos purportedly showing the torture of prisoners in Iraq. He joined the Mirror after becoming one of the youngest-ever editors of a national newspaper, having been appointed to run the News of the World when only 28. He and Matthew Freud, the entrepreneur, recently bought Press Gazette, the trade paper.

Terry Shepherd, 36, had never met James Hipwell or Anil Bhoyrul until they all appeared at a court hearing after being charged. They communicated by e-mail or telephone, with Shepherd helping the Slickers to promote interest in shares that they intended to tip.

CODE OF PRACTICE

The newspaper and magazine publishing industry’s Code of Practice binds all newspapers, magazines and their websites. Clause 13 of the Code imposes a number of requirements relating to financial journalism

It prohibits the use of financial information for the profit of journalists or their associates

It imposes restrictions on journalists writing about shares in which they or their close families have a significant interest without internal disclosure

It stops journalists dealing in shares about which they have written recently or intend to write in the near future

It requires that financial journalists take care not to publish inaccurate material and to distinguish between comment, conjecture and fact. This is particularly important for any journalists making recommendations to readers about whether to buy, sell or hold shares

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