Tommy Sheridan trial: five face new probe

Published on Saturday 1 January 2011 13:44

FIVE people who testified backing Tommy Sheridan's claims he did not attend a swingers' club could face a police probe that they perverted the course of justice.

A complaint has been made to Strathclyde Police requesting an investigation into some evidence given in court last month on Sheridan's behalf.

The former Scottish Socialist Party MSP was found guilty of perjury following an 11-week trial, after a jury found he lied during his successful defamation case against the News of the World in 2006. He sued after it printed stories revealing he was an adulterer who had attended a swingers' club in Manchester.

During the trial last month, two of Sheridan's witnesses, both close allies of the former SSP leader, provided alibis for him on the night the jury found he had attended the club, 27 September 2002.

Alan Brown told the court he had met Sheridan at the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow that evening and accepted a lift to Hamilton.

James Monaghan, an official for Sheridan's Solidarity party, also claimed he met Sheridan that evening at the centre.

Complaints have also been made to Strathclyde Police against Andrew MacFarlane, one of the men alleged to have accompanied Sheridan that night, who told the court he was in Glasgow. His wife Gillian is also subject to the complaint, having said her husband was at home that night.

The fifth witness who may face inquiry, Thomas Montgomery, said he had been watching the Ryder Cup with another of the men alleged to have accompanied Sheridan to Manchester.

The complaint has been passed to the chief constable of Strathclyde Police, Stephen House. It will then be up to the Crown Office to decide whether to press ahead with any formal investigation or prosecution, with the question of whether another trial is in the public interest likely to be a key factor in any decision.

Scotland on Sunday also understands a further complaint has been made to the Law Society against Sheridan's solicitor, Aamer Anwar.

After Sheridan fired his QC during the trial, Anwar, who had until then represented Sheridan, became an "amicus curiae", with his first responsibility to the court.

The complaint centres on claims Anwar failed to fulfil that role properly, although legal sources said last night that they would have expected the presiding judge in the case, Lord Bracadale, to have raised the matter himself during the case if there had been wrong-doing.

Anwar declined to comment last night.

Sheridan will be sentenced on 26 January and faces a prison term.