A public relations consultant who used inside knowledge to make money on shares has been fined after being convicted of insider dealing by a jury at the Old Bailey.

Tim Blackstone bought 150,000 shares in a company that had briefed him about its plans to launch a secret takeover bid for a building society.

He sold his stake in Edinburgh-based Murray Financial Corporation (MFC) just 24 hours later, making a profit of just over £3,000.

Mr Blackstone, the brother of arts minister Baroness Blackstone, had also tipped off his 87-year-old mother about the "good buy" after his appointment as public relations adviser to MFC.

'Taking a chance'

The former Sunday Times journalist and porn actor said he did not realise that what he had been told amounted to "price sensitive" information.

The judge, Christopher Hordern said: "It is clear to me that this court must send a signal which deters others from taking the chance which you quite clearly did with your eyes open."

Mr Blackstone was fined £1,000, ordered to pay £16,000 prosecution costs and told to hand over the £3,000 profit he had made on the shares.

Mr Blackstone is now a £70,000 a year PR consultant but in the 1970s and 1980s he appeared in films including Emmanuelle in Soho and I'm Not Feeling Myself Tonight.