HM Advocate v Sheridan and Sheridan
Encyclopedia
Her Majesty's Advocate v Thomas Sheridan and Gail Sheridan was the 2010 criminal prosecution of Tommy Sheridan
, a former Member of the Scottish Parliament
and his wife Gail Sheridan for perjury
in relation to the earlier civil case Sheridan v News Group Newspapers.In Scotland criminal prosecutions are normally brought in the name of the Lord Advocate
. Tommy Sheridan was found guilty and sentenced to three years in prison, Gail was acquitted.
(SSP), successfully sued the newspaper News of the World
for defamation after they printed a series of articles containing allegations that an MSP had had affairs and visited a sex club. Sheridan was awarded £200,000 in damages, which he has still not received pending an appeal. Controversy over the case led to a split in the SSP shortly afterwards, with Sheridan forming a breakaway party, Solidarity
.
In August 2006, a number of SSP activists came forward to claim that Sheridan had held meetings with them, where he made admissions inconsistent with his evidence in the court case, in particular admitting that he had had affairs and visited a swingers' club in Manchester. In October 2006, the News of the World released a videotape which showed Sheridan admitting that he had visited the club, and admitting that he had admitted this to the SSP Executive.
On 2 October 2006, the Procurator Fiscal
decided that there were grounds for an investigation into perjury, and instructed Lothian and Borders Police
to proceed. In February 2007, the Crown Office asked Lothian and Borders Police undertake a full inquiry after receiving a preliminary report, which was scaled up in May 2007, with the number of officers assigned to the case doubling to 20.
During late 2006 and early 2007, the police interviewed several SSP members and other witnesses, and seized computing equipment that had been used to type the minutes of SSP meetings.
In December 2007, Tommy Sheridan was charged with perjury
. During February 2008, six more people were charged with perjury: Graeme McIver, John Penman, Pat Smith and Rosemary Byrne
(all members of Sheridan's new party Solidarity
who had been at the disputed SSP executive meeting of November 2004) plus Sheridan's wife, Gail and her father, Angus Healy.
Also in February 2008, Gail Sheridan was suspended from her job as a flight attendant
with British Airways
over the alleged theft of miniature bottles of alcohol. Later in the year she was cleared of the allegations of theft and re-instated to her job with BA. In 2010 she took voluntary redundancy from that job.
to commit perjury at this trial.
QC led the prosecution.
Initially, Sheridan hired Donald Findlay
QC to defend him, but he later dropped him in favour of Margaret Scott
QC, who represented Abdelbaset al-Megrahi in an appeal against his conviction for the Lockerbie bombing. Gail was represented by Paul McBride
QC.
On 11 October it was announced that Sheridan had dismissed Margaret Scott QC, and would conduct his own defence. He retained his solicitor Aamer Anwar
, who the judge appointed as amicus curiae
.
The full trial started on 4 October 2010 at the Glasgow High Court
before Lord Bracadale
, with a jury of 13 women and 2 men, mostly younger women with one ethnic minority juror.Criminal trials in Scotland have a jury of 15 with verdicts by simple majority, see Trial by jury in Scotland
. On 15 December the judge excused one of the women jurors from serving further, the trial continued with 14 jurors.
On 25 November and again on 2 and 20 December the prosecution removed a number of items from the indictment.
An important piece of evidence was a tape which was filmed secretly a few days after this meeting, showing Sheridan making a "foul-mouthed tirade" containing statements inconsistent with his evidence in the civil trial. Under cross-examination Alan McCombes
denied scripting the video, as alleged by Sheridan. Bob Bird
, Scottish editor of the News of the World, gave evidence about how the paper acquired the tape.A full transcript of this tape was published in the News of the World on 26 December 2010, it may be available on their website, but not free.
Katrine Trolle, a Danish woman who was the SSP candidate in Aberdeen North
in the Scottish Parliament election, 2003
, claimed that she had had an affair with Sheridan (on one occasion in the bedroom in his home in Glasgow) and visited Cupids sex club with him on 27 September 2002. This was supported by a former housemate of Trolle and her ex-boyfriend who claimed that Sheridan spent the night with Trolle at her home in Dundee. Gary Clark
, a former professional footballer and childhood friend of Sheridan, claimed to have visited a club in Manchester with Sheridan which showed pornographic videos. Anvar Khan, a News of the World journalist, claimed that she had visited Cupids sex club with Sheridan and had an affair with him. This was supported by a former neighbour of Khan, who claimed to have seen Khan and Sheridan appear from the direction of a bedroom. A former worker in Cupids. and another witness, claimed to have seen Sheridan in Cupids. A number of SSP activists also claimed that in the course of discussions Sheridan had made admissions about his personal life inconsistent with his evidence in the civil trial.
The final chapter of the prosecution case involved a sex party which Sheridan allegedly attended at the Moat House Hotel in Glasgow. All charges related to this matter were dropped following Crown witness Matt McColl's testimony and cross examination. During his appearance in court he was warned for contempt of court due to his reluctance to name his then girlfriend and now wife, as well as agreeing he had previously told police that Mr Sheridan had not been at the Moat House.
On 2 December the prosecution completed its case. It dropped the charge of subornation of perjury on the grounds of lack of corroboration, and some points from the charges of perjury against both Sheridans.
, his own party, including Hugh Kerr
, Rosemary Byrne
and Mike Gonzalez
. He also called Andy Coulson
, Downing Street director of communications and former News of the World editor, who denied that he had any knowledge of phone hacking at the News of the World, or that he knew Glenn Mulcaire
, the private detective at the centre of controversy.
Four witnesses who were present at the crucial SSP executive meeting of 9 November 2004 claimed that Sheridan did not admit to visiting a sex club at the meeting.
On 17 December the defence case completed. The prosecution then dropped the last remaining charge against Gail Sheridan, who was acquitted by the judge. Later that day her solicitor made a statement on her behalf outside the court thanking her legal team.
On 26 January he was sentenced to three years in prison.
On both days Gail Sheridan made a statement outside the court saying that she was standing by her husband.
The Crown Office has said that no further action will be taken against six other people charged with perjury in relation to the civil trial, five of Sheridan's associates (see above) and Fiona McGuire. Two witnesses who clashed with the judge have avoided punishment.
Sheridan may appeal, possibly over trial judge's decision to stop Scottish comic Des McLean
, who previously impersonated Sheridan on the radio, from giving evidence, and on the grounds of the failure of the News of the World to hand over crucial e-mails to the defence. He may produce three new witnesses to give him an alibi for the date when he was supposed to be at Cupids, although doubts have been expressed about one person's claims.
Five of the defence witnesses in this case may themselves now face a police investigation for perjury. There are also allegations that Aamer Anwar may have misused his position as amicus curiae
by advising defence witnesses not to co-operate with the police, but he denies any misconduct. A juror may face legal action after posting comments about discussions and other jurors on Facebook
. However as of October 2011 nothing further has happened about any of these issues.
BBC Scotland
broadcast a radio drama based on the trial on 26 January, with Gavin Mitchell
as Tommy Sheridan, Karen Dunbar
as Gail, and Julie Wilson Nimmo
as Katrine Trolle.
For a time Solidarity
considered nominating Gail Sheridan at the Scottish Parliament election, 2011
as their lead candidate in the Glasgow region, but they later announced that she did not intend to stand.
In June 2011 his appeal was turned down at the first hurdle, but he may take it to a higher level. In the light of the News of the World phone hacking affair
, the Crown Office has instructed the Strathclyde police to reassess the evidence. However Paul McBride
QC has stated that he does not believe that this affair has any bearing on Sheridan's conviction.
A complaint submitted to Strathclyde Police in July 2011 lead to Operation Rubicon
, a major investigation involving 50 officers investigating allegations of phone hacking, breach of data protection and perjury by News of the World.
Tommy Sheridan
Tommy Sheridan is a Scottish socialist politician. He has had various prominent roles within the socialist movement in Scotland and is currently one of two co-convenors of the left-wing Scottish political party Solidarity....
, a former Member of the Scottish Parliament
Member of the Scottish Parliament
Member of the Scottish Parliament is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament.-Methods of Election:MSPs are elected in one of two ways:...
and his wife Gail Sheridan for perjury
Perjury
Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the...
in relation to the earlier civil case Sheridan v News Group Newspapers.In Scotland criminal prosecutions are normally brought in the name of the Lord Advocate
Lord Advocate
Her Majesty's Advocate , known as the Lord Advocate , is the chief legal officer of the Scottish Government and the Crown in Scotland for both civil and criminal matters that fall within the devolved powers of the Scottish Parliament...
. Tommy Sheridan was found guilty and sentenced to three years in prison, Gail was acquitted.
Background
In 2006, Tommy Sheridan, formerly convenor of the Scottish Socialist PartyScottish Socialist Party
The Scottish Socialist Party is a left-wing Scottish political party. Positioning itself significantly to the left of Scotland's centre-left parties, the SSP campaigns on a socialist economic platform and for Scottish independence....
(SSP), successfully sued the newspaper News of the World
News of the World
The News of the World was a national red top newspaper published in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the biggest selling English language newspaper in the world, and at closure still had one of the highest English language circulations...
for defamation after they printed a series of articles containing allegations that an MSP had had affairs and visited a sex club. Sheridan was awarded £200,000 in damages, which he has still not received pending an appeal. Controversy over the case led to a split in the SSP shortly afterwards, with Sheridan forming a breakaway party, Solidarity
Solidarity (Scotland)
Solidarity is a political party in Scotland, launched on September 3, 2006 as a breakaway from the Scottish Socialist Party in the aftermath of Tommy Sheridan's libel action...
.
In August 2006, a number of SSP activists came forward to claim that Sheridan had held meetings with them, where he made admissions inconsistent with his evidence in the court case, in particular admitting that he had had affairs and visited a swingers' club in Manchester. In October 2006, the News of the World released a videotape which showed Sheridan admitting that he had visited the club, and admitting that he had admitted this to the SSP Executive.
On 2 October 2006, the Procurator Fiscal
Procurator Fiscal
A procurator fiscal is a public prosecutor in Scotland. They investigate all sudden and suspicious deaths in Scotland , conduct Fatal Accident Inquiries and handle criminal complaints against the police A procurator fiscal (pl. procurators fiscal) is a public prosecutor in Scotland. They...
decided that there were grounds for an investigation into perjury, and instructed Lothian and Borders Police
Lothian and Borders Police
Lothian and Borders Police is the territorial police force for the Scottish council areas of the City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian, Scottish Borders and West Lothian...
to proceed. In February 2007, the Crown Office asked Lothian and Borders Police undertake a full inquiry after receiving a preliminary report, which was scaled up in May 2007, with the number of officers assigned to the case doubling to 20.
During late 2006 and early 2007, the police interviewed several SSP members and other witnesses, and seized computing equipment that had been used to type the minutes of SSP meetings.
In December 2007, Tommy Sheridan was charged with perjury
Perjury
Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the...
. During February 2008, six more people were charged with perjury: Graeme McIver, John Penman, Pat Smith and Rosemary Byrne
Rosemary Byrne
Rosemary Byrne is a Scottish political figure. She was a co-convenor of Solidarity and a former Member of the Scottish Parliament for the South of Scotland...
(all members of Sheridan's new party Solidarity
Solidarity (Scotland)
Solidarity is a political party in Scotland, launched on September 3, 2006 as a breakaway from the Scottish Socialist Party in the aftermath of Tommy Sheridan's libel action...
who had been at the disputed SSP executive meeting of November 2004) plus Sheridan's wife, Gail and her father, Angus Healy.
Also in February 2008, Gail Sheridan was suspended from her job as a flight attendant
Flight attendant
Flight attendants or cabin crew are members of an aircrew employed by airlines primarily to ensure the safety and comfort of passengers aboard commercial flights, on select business jet aircraft, and on some military aircraft.-History:The role of a flight attendant derives from that of similar...
with British Airways
British Airways
British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. British Airways is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations...
over the alleged theft of miniature bottles of alcohol. Later in the year she was cleared of the allegations of theft and re-instated to her job with BA. In 2010 she took voluntary redundancy from that job.
Preliminary hearings
On 13 July 2009, at a preliminary hearing, a full statement of the indictment against Tommy and Gail Sheridan was made public. Both were charged with perjury in relation to several issues at the civil trial, and Tommy Sheridan was also charged with subornation of perjury by attempting to persuade Colin FoxColin Fox
Colin Fox is the national spokesperson of the Scottish Socialist Party, and a former member for Lothian in the Scottish Parliament...
to commit perjury at this trial.
Representation
Alex PrenticeAlex Prentice
Alex Prentice QC is a leading Scottish lawyer.He has held some senior posts at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, the body which normally carries out prosecutions in Scotland. He is currently the principal advocate depute, having become an assistant principal advocate in 2009...
QC led the prosecution.
Initially, Sheridan hired Donald Findlay
Donald Findlay
Donald Findlay QC, is a well-known senior advocate and Queen's Counsel in Scotland. He has also held positions as a vice chairman of Rangers Football Club and twice Rector of the University of St Andrews...
QC to defend him, but he later dropped him in favour of Margaret Scott
Margaret Scott (lawyer)
Margaret 'Maggie' Scott QC is a member of the Scottish Bar , into which she was admitted in 1991. She 'took silk' in 2002, thus becoming a member of the prestigious Queen's Counsel.-Women at the Bar:...
QC, who represented Abdelbaset al-Megrahi in an appeal against his conviction for the Lockerbie bombing. Gail was represented by Paul McBride
Paul McBride
Paul McBride QC is a Scottish criminal lawyer based in Edinburgh. He is a board member of the Scottish Legal Aid Board, and a former Vice Chairman of the Faculty of Advocates Criminal Bar Association.- Education :...
QC.
On 11 October it was announced that Sheridan had dismissed Margaret Scott QC, and would conduct his own defence. He retained his solicitor Aamer Anwar
Aamer Anwar
Aamer Anwar is a Scottish lawyer of Pakistani background. He is noted for his left-wing political views and his support for Stop the War Coalition and the campaigns against the 31st G8 summit and Dungavel Detention Centre for failed Asylum seekers....
, who the judge appointed as amicus curiae
Amicus curiae
An amicus curiae is someone, not a party to a case, who volunteers to offer information to assist a court in deciding a matter before it...
.
The full trial started on 4 October 2010 at the Glasgow High Court
High Court of Justiciary
The High Court of Justiciary is the supreme criminal court of Scotland.The High Court is both a court of first instance and a court of appeal. As a court of first instance, the High Court sits mainly in Parliament House, or in the former Sheriff Court building, in Edinburgh, but also sits from time...
before Lord Bracadale
Alastair Campbell, Lord Bracadale
Alastair Peter Campbell, Lord Bracadale, QC is a Scottish advocate and Senator of the College of Justice.-Early life:Campbell was born on 18 September 1949 in Skye, Scotland, to Rev. Donald Campbell and Margaret Campbell, although his family moved to Edinburgh when he was just two years old, where...
, with a jury of 13 women and 2 men, mostly younger women with one ethnic minority juror.Criminal trials in Scotland have a jury of 15 with verdicts by simple majority, see Trial by jury in Scotland
Trial by jury in Scotland
In Scotland trial by jury is used in serious criminal cases and less commonly in civil cases. There are some similarities with the jury system in England and Wales but some important differences....
. On 15 December the judge excused one of the women jurors from serving further, the trial continued with 14 jurors.
On 25 November and again on 2 and 20 December the prosecution removed a number of items from the indictment.
Prosecution case
An important issue was the crucial SSP executive meeting of 9 November 2004, where Sheridan resigned as convenor. 16 witnesses who were present claimed that he did admit to visiting Cupids sex club in Manchester at this meeting. Barbara Scott, the minute secretary, claimed that the minutes and her notes support this claim.Alan McCombes
Alan William McCombes has been a leading member of the Scottish Socialist Party for several years, and was the editor of the Scottish Socialist Voice.-Background:...
denied scripting the video, as alleged by Sheridan. Bob Bird
Bob Bird
Bob Bird is the former editor of the Scottish edition of the defunct News of the World tabloid.He is best known for the widespread media coverage over his role in two trials involving former Scottish MSP Tommy Sheridan - the 2006 Sheridan v News International libel case and the 2010 HM Advocate v...
, Scottish editor of the News of the World, gave evidence about how the paper acquired the tape.A full transcript of this tape was published in the News of the World on 26 December 2010, it may be available on their website, but not free.
Katrine Trolle, a Danish woman who was the SSP candidate in Aberdeen North
Aberdeen North (Scottish Parliament constituency)
Aberdeen North was a constituency of the Scottish Parliament from 1999–2011. It elected one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the first past the post method of election...
in the Scottish Parliament election, 2003
Scottish Parliament election, 2003
The Scottish Parliament election, 2003, was the second general election of the Scottish Parliament. It was held on 1 May 2003 and it brought no change in terms of control of the Scottish Executive...
, claimed that she had had an affair with Sheridan (on one occasion in the bedroom in his home in Glasgow) and visited Cupids sex club with him on 27 September 2002. This was supported by a former housemate of Trolle and her ex-boyfriend who claimed that Sheridan spent the night with Trolle at her home in Dundee. Gary Clark
Gary Clark (Scottish footballer)
Gary Clark is a Scottish former professional footballer, who played as a midfielder.-Career:He played for Pollok Juniors in 1985 and won the League, Scottish Cup and Cup Winners Cup. He then joined Falkirk in the Scottish 1st Division in 1986 the year they won promotion to the Scottish Premier...
, a former professional footballer and childhood friend of Sheridan, claimed to have visited a club in Manchester with Sheridan which showed pornographic videos. Anvar Khan, a News of the World journalist, claimed that she had visited Cupids sex club with Sheridan and had an affair with him. This was supported by a former neighbour of Khan, who claimed to have seen Khan and Sheridan appear from the direction of a bedroom. A former worker in Cupids. and another witness, claimed to have seen Sheridan in Cupids. A number of SSP activists also claimed that in the course of discussions Sheridan had made admissions about his personal life inconsistent with his evidence in the civil trial.
The final chapter of the prosecution case involved a sex party which Sheridan allegedly attended at the Moat House Hotel in Glasgow. All charges related to this matter were dropped following Crown witness Matt McColl's testimony and cross examination. During his appearance in court he was warned for contempt of court due to his reluctance to name his then girlfriend and now wife, as well as agreeing he had previously told police that Mr Sheridan had not been at the Moat House.
On 2 December the prosecution completed its case. It dropped the charge of subornation of perjury on the grounds of lack of corroboration, and some points from the charges of perjury against both Sheridans.
Defence case
The defence opened its case on 3 December, both Sheridans declined to act as a witnesses themselves. Many of the witnesses called by Sheridan were members of SolidaritySolidarity (Scotland)
Solidarity is a political party in Scotland, launched on September 3, 2006 as a breakaway from the Scottish Socialist Party in the aftermath of Tommy Sheridan's libel action...
, his own party, including Hugh Kerr
Hugh Kerr
Hugh Kerr is a Scottish politician and a former lecturer in social policy at the University of East London...
, Rosemary Byrne
Rosemary Byrne
Rosemary Byrne is a Scottish political figure. She was a co-convenor of Solidarity and a former Member of the Scottish Parliament for the South of Scotland...
and Mike Gonzalez
Mike Gonzalez (historian)
Mike Gonzalez is a British historian and literary critic, who was Professor of Latin American Studies in the Hispanics Department of the University of Glasgow.He has written widely on Latin America...
. He also called Andy Coulson
Andy Coulson
Andrew Edward Coulson is an English journalist and political strategist.Coulson was the editor of the News of the World from 2003 until his resignation in 2007, following the conviction of one of the newspaper's reporters in relation to illegal phone-hacking.He subsequently joined David Cameron's...
, Downing Street director of communications and former News of the World editor, who denied that he had any knowledge of phone hacking at the News of the World, or that he knew Glenn Mulcaire
Glenn Mulcaire
Glenn Mulcaire, born September 8, 1970, is a former professional footballer, latterly a private investigator. He has been closely associated with the News International phone hacking scandal. In January 2007 he was found guilty of illegally intercepting phone messages from Clarence House and...
, the private detective at the centre of controversy.
Four witnesses who were present at the crucial SSP executive meeting of 9 November 2004 claimed that Sheridan did not admit to visiting a sex club at the meeting.
On 17 December the defence case completed. The prosecution then dropped the last remaining charge against Gail Sheridan, who was acquitted by the judge. Later that day her solicitor made a statement on her behalf outside the court thanking her legal team.
Summations
Alex Prentice gave his closing speech on 20 December. Sheridan gave his closing speech on 21–22 December, Lord Bracadale gave his summing-up, the jury then retired to consider their verdict and were later sent home for the night.Verdict
On 23 December the jury found Sheridan guilty of five of the six outstanding charges of perjury, by majority verdict. The only one where they acquitted him was lying about his alleged affair with Anvar Khan, they also deleted the mention of lying about having sex with Katrine Trolle in his home. He was bailed pending background reports.On 26 January he was sentenced to three years in prison.
On both days Gail Sheridan made a statement outside the court saying that she was standing by her husband.
Aftermath
Sheridan may appeal, possibly over trial judge's decision to stop Scottish comic Des McLean
Des McLean
Des McLean is a Scottish stand-up comedian, TV and Radio presenter from Glasgow, cited by Billy Connolly as his favourite comedian. He started comedy in 1999 and was a finalist in the BBC New Comedy Awards, in that year he was also a finalist in the Channel 4 programme So You Think You’re...
, who previously impersonated Sheridan on the radio, from giving evidence, and on the grounds of the failure of the News of the World to hand over crucial e-mails to the defence. He may produce three new witnesses to give him an alibi for the date when he was supposed to be at Cupids, although doubts have been expressed about one person's claims.
Five of the defence witnesses in this case may themselves now face a police investigation for perjury. There are also allegations that Aamer Anwar may have misused his position as amicus curiae
Amicus curiae
An amicus curiae is someone, not a party to a case, who volunteers to offer information to assist a court in deciding a matter before it...
by advising defence witnesses not to co-operate with the police, but he denies any misconduct. A juror may face legal action after posting comments about discussions and other jurors on Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
. However as of October 2011 nothing further has happened about any of these issues.
BBC Scotland
BBC Scotland
BBC Scotland is a constituent part of the British Broadcasting Corporation, the publicly-funded broadcaster of the United Kingdom. It is, in effect, the national broadcaster for Scotland, having a considerable amount of autonomy from the BBC's London headquarters, and is run by the BBC Trust, who...
broadcast a radio drama based on the trial on 26 January, with Gavin Mitchell
Gavin Mitchell (actor)
Gavin Mitchell is a Scottish actor and comedian.He is best known as Boaby the Barman in Scottish sitcom Still Game. He previously played the character of Winston in the stage show Still Game...
as Tommy Sheridan, Karen Dunbar
Karen Dunbar
Karen Dunbar is a Scottish comedienne and entertainer.-Early life:She first came to the attention of mainstream audiences in the BBC Scotland comedy series Chewin' the Fat and subsequently was given her own show by the channel, The Karen Dunbar Show.Prior to mainstream success, Karen, an out...
as Gail, and Julie Wilson Nimmo
Julie Wilson Nimmo
Julie Wilson Nimmo is a Scottish actress who trained at the RSAMD and is best known for playing the role of Miss Hoolie in the BBC One, Two and CBeebies 2002–05 children's programme Balamory....
as Katrine Trolle.
For a time Solidarity
Solidarity (Scotland)
Solidarity is a political party in Scotland, launched on September 3, 2006 as a breakaway from the Scottish Socialist Party in the aftermath of Tommy Sheridan's libel action...
considered nominating Gail Sheridan at the Scottish Parliament election, 2011
Scottish Parliament election, 2011
The 2011 Scottish Parliament general election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2011 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament.The election delivered the first majority government since the opening of Holyrood, a remarkable feat as the mixed member proportional representation system is used to...
as their lead candidate in the Glasgow region, but they later announced that she did not intend to stand.
In June 2011 his appeal was turned down at the first hurdle, but he may take it to a higher level. In the light of the News of the World phone hacking affair
News of the World phone hacking affair
The News International phone-hacking scandal is an ongoing controversy involving mainly the News of the World but also other British tabloid newspapers published by News International, a subsidiary of News Corporation. Employees of the newspaper were accused of engaging in phone hacking, police...
, the Crown Office has instructed the Strathclyde police to reassess the evidence. However Paul McBride
Paul McBride
Paul McBride QC is a Scottish criminal lawyer based in Edinburgh. He is a board member of the Scottish Legal Aid Board, and a former Vice Chairman of the Faculty of Advocates Criminal Bar Association.- Education :...
QC has stated that he does not believe that this affair has any bearing on Sheridan's conviction.
A complaint submitted to Strathclyde Police in July 2011 lead to Operation Rubicon
Operation Rubicon
Operation Rubicon is a Scottish police investigation into allegations of phone hacking, breach of data protection and perjury.The operation was initiated by a complaint from Tommy Sheridan's family solicitor, Aamer Anwar, including allegations of perjury, phone hacking and breach of data...
, a major investigation involving 50 officers investigating allegations of phone hacking, breach of data protection and perjury by News of the World.
External links
- Sunday Herald summary of case
- Scottish Socialist Party statement on conviction
- Solidarity statement on conviction
- 2004 publication with statements from all currents in the SSP at the time
- short extract from the George McNeilage video
- The Truth about Tommy Sheridan from Scottish Socialist Youth
- article about the case from the Weekly Worker
- guide to the key witnesses from the BBC
- The women who refused to lie for Tommy
- We were Tommy Sheridan's loyal comrades, not his harem
- Sentencing statement by the judge