Feisty Scottish ex-MP facing jail over perjury
Source: Agencies |
December 26, 2010, Sunday
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Print Edition
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IT was a case that gripped Scotland - a firebrand leftist lawmaker who claimed he spent nights at home playing Scrabble versus a tabloid that claimed he took part in wild parties at a sex club. The first jury ruled for Scrabble. The next one decided he'd lied.
So Tommy Sheridan, a former member of Scotland's Parliament, has been told by a judge to get ready for jail when he returns to a Glasgow court next month for sentencing.
Sheridan mounted a robust defense of his character in a widely followed libel trial against Britain's feisty News of The World newspaper. Over weeks of riveting testimony, the 46-year-old persuaded a jury that he had been wronged by the newspaper, accusing reporters of putting his wife and then-unborn child at risk as a result of the stress.
In one notable exchange that helped Sheridan win damages worth 200,000 pounds (US$310,000), the lawmaker offered to take off his shirt in court to show he was "a hairy ape" and disprove the testimony of an alleged mistress who had suggested he was smooth-chested.
Sheridan's story sounded almost too good to be true - and a jury in a second trial ruled on Thursday that it was, convicting him of perjury.
The ruling is the latest twist in a political career lived out in tabloid headlines.
Sheridan came to prominence protesting the unpopular Poll Tax introduced by prime minister Margaret Thatcher and was elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999 as part of the new Scottish Socialist Party. He broke away in 2006 to form his own Solidarity Party and lost his seat in 2007. From 2004 on, Sheridan became the target of Britain's tabloids, facing a series of disparaging stories about his sex life.
The News of the World claimed he was a "spanking swinger" who had slept with a prostitute and attended a swingers' sex club in Manchester, northern England.
A defiant Sheridan sued the newspaper in 2006, accusing his detractors of either printing salacious gossip to drive newspaper sales or colluding with Britain's intelligence agencies in a plot to undermine socialist politicians.
He defended himself after firing his lawyer and mocked the paper's allegations as outrageously fanciful.
However, nearly a year after his courtroom victory, police arrested and charged Sheridan with perjury in connection with the hearing.
Following the jury's verdict, Judge Alistair Bracadale told Sheridan, who made a marathon five-hour closing speech in the case, he was almost certain to be jailed.
So Tommy Sheridan, a former member of Scotland's Parliament, has been told by a judge to get ready for jail when he returns to a Glasgow court next month for sentencing.
Sheridan mounted a robust defense of his character in a widely followed libel trial against Britain's feisty News of The World newspaper. Over weeks of riveting testimony, the 46-year-old persuaded a jury that he had been wronged by the newspaper, accusing reporters of putting his wife and then-unborn child at risk as a result of the stress.
In one notable exchange that helped Sheridan win damages worth 200,000 pounds (US$310,000), the lawmaker offered to take off his shirt in court to show he was "a hairy ape" and disprove the testimony of an alleged mistress who had suggested he was smooth-chested.
Sheridan's story sounded almost too good to be true - and a jury in a second trial ruled on Thursday that it was, convicting him of perjury.
The ruling is the latest twist in a political career lived out in tabloid headlines.
Sheridan came to prominence protesting the unpopular Poll Tax introduced by prime minister Margaret Thatcher and was elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999 as part of the new Scottish Socialist Party. He broke away in 2006 to form his own Solidarity Party and lost his seat in 2007. From 2004 on, Sheridan became the target of Britain's tabloids, facing a series of disparaging stories about his sex life.
The News of the World claimed he was a "spanking swinger" who had slept with a prostitute and attended a swingers' sex club in Manchester, northern England.
A defiant Sheridan sued the newspaper in 2006, accusing his detractors of either printing salacious gossip to drive newspaper sales or colluding with Britain's intelligence agencies in a plot to undermine socialist politicians.
He defended himself after firing his lawyer and mocked the paper's allegations as outrageously fanciful.
However, nearly a year after his courtroom victory, police arrested and charged Sheridan with perjury in connection with the hearing.
Following the jury's verdict, Judge Alistair Bracadale told Sheridan, who made a marathon five-hour closing speech in the case, he was almost certain to be jailed.
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