page_title: Tommy Sheridan
section_title: Perjury conviction
hierarchical_section_title: Tommy Sheridan / Defamation action / Perjury conviction
caption_attribution_description: Barlinnie Prison: home to Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, convicted for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing
context_page_description: Tommy Sheridan is a Scottish politician who was co-convenor of Solidarity, along with Rosemary Byrne until June 2016. He was re-elected as the Convenor of Solidarity in November 2019.
  Sheridan was active as a Militant entryist in the Labour Party until 1989 when Labour expelled him, and became a member of Scottish Militant Labour, which eventually became the core of the Scottish Socialist Party. He was a prominent campaigner against the Poll tax in Scotland, and was jailed for six months for attending a warrant sale in 1991 after Glasgow Sheriff Court had served a court order on him banning his presence. He was elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999 as a Glasgow representative and re-elected in 2003 despite, in 2000 and 2002, being jailed over the non-payment of fines levied in connection with breach of the peace convictions resulting from his actions at demonstrations against the presence of the nuclear fleet at the Faslane Naval Base.
  In 2006, in the case of Sheridan v News International, he won an action for defamation against the News of the World and was awarded £200,000 damages.
context_section_description: The conflicting evidence given during the trial resulted in the judge warning several witnesses about the implications of perjuring themselves. On Monday 7 August 2006, Lothian and Borders Police said they had received two complaints of perjury, one from the former Conservative MSP Brian Monteith, the other alleged to be from the SSP's minutes secretary.
  On 22 August 2006, the Crown Office announced it had instructed the Edinburgh Procurators Fiscal office to ascertain if there were grounds for a criminal investigation. On 2 October 2006, it was concluded that there were and Lothian and Borders Police were instructed to start a criminal investigation. On 21 February 2007, The Herald reported that the Crown Office had asked Lothian and Borders Police to undertake a full inquiry after receiving a preliminary report.
  In May 2007, it was reported that staff at Cupid's Swingers Club in Manchester had told police they had been offered bribes not to co-operate with the inquiry.
  On 16 December 2007, Sheridan was charged with perjury in relation to the News of the World case. In a public statement outside the police station he attributed his arrest to the "powerful reach" of the Murdoch press. During February 2008, his wife Gail, former SSP MSP Rosemary Byrne, former members of the SSP Executive Committee, Patricia Smith, Graeme McIver, Jock Penman, and Sheridan's father-in-law, Angus Healey were also charged with perjury.
  On 27 January 2009, Sheridan and his wife were indicted for perjury, and were summoned to attend a pre-trial hearing at Edinburgh High Court on 26 February. however this was postponed until 11 May.
  This trial started at Glasgow High Court on 4 October 2010. Sheridan's initial defence team included Donald Findlay, who was replaced by Maggie Scott. However, a few weeks into the case, Sheridan instructed his Solicitor Aamer Anwar, who has defended him since 2007, to withdraw Scott's instructions. He then conducted his own defence, with Anwar assisting him as amicus curiae.
  On 23 December 2010 a jury found Sheridan guilty of perjury and on 26 January 2011 he was sentenced to 3 years in prison.
  Initially he was held in Barlinnie prison in Glasgow, but after several weeks he was moved to a semi-open wing in Barlinnie, and on 21 June he was moved to Castle Huntly open prison. Sheridan was released to a Home Detention Curfew on 30 January 2012, having served just over one year of his sentence.
  Sheridan and Aamer Anwar subsequently parted company, with Gordon Dangerfield acting as his lawyer.
  In 2015 the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission declined to refer the case to the High Court.
caption: HM Prison Barlinnie
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