A former News of the World chief reporter has admitted a story about a former F1 boss' orgy was not in the public interest without a Nazi theme.Neville Thurlbeck, who worked at the NoW for 21 years, admitted during his oral evidence to the Leveson Inquiry that the story about Max Mosley's S&M ‘party’ was not in the public interest with the Nazi theme removed from it.Thurlbeck said he believed, however, that at the time there was a public interest in the story and it was the "suggestion of a Nazi theme that initially persuaded us that it was in the public interest".When asked by Inquiry counsel, Robert Jay, if he was involved in discussions about whether to confront Mosley about the story, Thurlbeck said he was not part of the process.He said he believed the editor thought "we had a perfectly legitimate story we need to run".Thurlbeck said: "We had every justification in running it and the editor feared the story could be prevented from coming out by Mosley."The former NoW chief reporter also admitted sending emails to the two anonymous women who had helped him get the video of the orgy.He was trying to get them to agree to an interview, otherwise he would publish images of them without pixellation.Thurlbeck said he was "happy to accept full responsibility for sending emails", but told Lord Justice Leveson the messages were drafted by his news editor, Ian Edmondson.Earlier today, "Fake Sheikh" Mazher Mahmood, an investigative reporter who worked at the NoW for more than 20 years, also gave evidence.He was asked about his stings and where the ethical boundaries were for reporters doing investigations into criminal behaviour.Mahmood claimed his investigations have led to 261 successful criminal prosecutions to date.