'Cunning, devious and a conscious liar' - Tommy Sheridan attack on sex accuser

A WOMAN has rejected accusations by Tommy Sheridan that she is a "conscious liar" whose lurid account of an affair with him was fiction and fabrication.

Former Scottish Socialist Party parliamentary candidate Katrine Trolle faced Sheridan across a courtroom for the second time in four years and insisted she was telling the truth.

Sheridan attacked claims by the "cunning and devious" Ms Trolle that she had had sex with him in his own house and in a threesome with his brother-in-law, and described as a "yarn" her account of their visiting a sex club in England.

Ms Trolle, 36, conceded there were inconsistencies in what she had said during Sheridan's successful defamation action against the News of the World in 2006, and in her evidence in the current trial at the High Court in Glasgow.

"Having to stand and talk about your sex life is very stressful… I think the important thing is whether we had sex or not… we had sex on quite a few occasions," she told Sheridan.

A jury at the Court of Session in Edinburgh awarded Sheridan 200,000 damages against the News of the World over allegations it had made about his private life. He and his wife Gail, both 46, are accused now of giving perjured evidence in that case. Both deny the charge.

Ms Trolle, a Dane, studied in Scotland and married a Scot, from whom she is now divorced. She joined the SSP and stood as a candidate in the 2003 Scottish Parliament elections.

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She alleged in evidence on Tuesday that she had had sex with Sheridan in his home in late 2000, and that on a later occasion they spent the night with his brother-in-law Andy McFarlane. She also said they had sex in Sheridan's office in Glasgow City Chambers and went with two men and a woman to Cupid's swingers' club in Manchester.

Sheridan is conducting his own defence after sacking his QC, as he did in the civil litigation, and he wanted to know from Ms Trolle why she had given different accounts of the alleged visit to his home.

Previously, she had stated that Gail Sheridan had been at work as an air hostess and that "afterwards" she and Sheridan had talked for a short while before he gave her a lift home. This time, she said Mrs Sheridan had been at a Christmas party with colleagues, and she and Sheridan had to quickly get dressed when Mrs Sheridan phoned the house for him to go and collect her.

"It is very, very stressful having to stand and talk about your private and sex life to a courtroom of people, and in a second language," Ms Trolle said.

Sheridan suggested it was also very stressful to have to listen to such talk, and said: "The truth is you were never in my house."

Ms Trolle replied: "No, that is not the case, Tommy Sheridan.I was in your house and we had sex on quite a few occasions… and I would never ever have talked about this to anyone, ever, but I had to because it was dragged into court."

Sheridan pointed out that, in 2006, Ms Trolle had said the threesome with Mr McFarlane took place a couple of weeks later. Also, she had said Mr McFarlane had been introduced as Sheridan's brother-in-law, but at that time Mr McFarlane was not married. It was another point that undermined her evidence, Sheridan said.

"You and whoever you are working with from the News of the World made up the house visit stories…in order to lend weight to the swingers' yarn, is that not the case?" he asked.

Ms Trolle said: "No. What would I gain working with or co-operating with the News of the World? If I had made up a story, I would have got the dates absolutely right because I would have learned it off by heart."

Sheridan said he did not know if Ms Trolle had been to a swingers' club, but she interrupted him, saying: "Yes you do, we went together." He claimed that to be a "downright lie", and she replied: "No it is not, Tommy Sheridan. We were at that club together. If I was making up all this, I would get my facts absolutely right. I never thought I would have to speak about it."

Sheridan said Ms Trolle had been exposed as "a conscious liar", but she denied it. He said she had told a fictional story and that the city chambers episode was "complete and utter fabrication".

The cross-examination will resume today.