Letter: Sheridan watch

"Everyone tells lies when their back is against the wall" writes Lance Black, (Letters, 27 December). Perhaps, but few will have the audacity to do so in what would amount to be the trial of their life.

Tommy Sheridan has been quite content to use the machinery of the Murdoch "gutter press", and indeed any media outlet willing to cover him, for as long as I can remember. He was elected to office and held himself on a platform of substance and integrity. When you attempt to hold yourself in such esteem, then there is always the chance that your actions will be scrutinised. And scrutinised they were. But not only did he lie, he also encouraged others to lie.

Sheridan's sins were, I would argue, a little more than lying in court. It was his systematic recruitment of his comrades to lie on his behalf which I found most distasteful - and all for purely monetary gain. The cult of Sheridan is dead. He leaves a legacy of arrogance. Good riddance.

WALTER McCREADIE

Harbour Place

Dalgety Bay, Fife