Police in Gail Sheridan apology over probe delay

Published on 09/02/2013 09:55

POLICE have issued an apology to Gail Sheridan after delays over an inquiry into the behaviour of police officers.

• Gail Sheridan issued apology after delays in police probe

• Mrs Sheridan accused officers of behaving like “stormtroopers” as they confiscated 43 personal items in 2008

• Officers behaved like “stormtroopers”, alleged Mrs Sheridan

The conduct of officers who confiscated 43 personal items belonging to Mrs Sheridan, the wife of former Scottish Socialist Party leader Tommy Sheridan, was subject to a report sent to the Procurator Fiscal by Lothian and Borders police.

But delays into the inquiry, which has taken 16 months and has not yet concluded since being launched in September 2011, has forced a “sincere and full apology” from senior procurator fiscal John Logue, according to the Daily Record.

Mrs Sheridan had been arrested alongside her husband on perjury charges in 2008 during a defamation action raised by Mr Sheridan against the now-defunct News of the World.

Among the items taken by police from Mrs Sheridan at the time were a set of rosary beads, an action which she described as “blatantly sectarian”, adding that officers had behaved like “stormtroopers”.

Mr Logue said the delay to the probe had been due to an “administrative error”. He added that the inquiry would be completed by next month.

Diaries, mobile phones and address books were among the other items taken by the nine officers who raided the Sheridan home in Glasgow in 2008.