Tommy Sheridan accuses ex-SSP colleague of 'fantasy and smear'

• Tommy Sheridan is on trial along with his wife Gail

Former MSP Sheridan, who is facing charges of lying under oath during his successful libel action against the News of the World, was today continuing to cross-examine former Scottish Socialist Party MSP Rosie Kane.

Sheridan denies lying to the courts during his case, which followed the newspaper's claims that he was an adulterer who visited swingers' clubs.

He and his wife Gail, both 46, and from Glasgow, are accused of lying under oath during the defamation action.

Sheridan won 200,000 in damages after the newspaper printed the allegations about his private life.

But several of Sheridan's SSP colleagues have told the trial that they witnessed him "confessing" that he was the MSP involved in the allegations during an emergency meeting of the party's executive on November 9 2004.

Sheridan accused Ms Kane of "making up" stories about an alleged affair between himself and another party member in Aberdeen.

The News of the World printed allegations of a "four-in-a-bed orgy" involving Sheridan and Fiona McGuire on November 14 and 21 2004.

The trial, at the High Court in Glasgow, has previously heard how Ms McGuire took an overdose following the publication of the story.

But Ms Kane told police in 2006 that she had spoken to Ms McGuire's former lover, Duncan Rowan, who told her 'Tommy had taken his girlfriend away'.

Sheridan today said: "Duncan Rowan never told you 'Tommy has taken his girlfriend away'. You made that up to make me look even worse.

"It's another example of the fantasy and smear you have been producing for years.

"You have lied throughout your testimony."

But Ms Kane told him: "There is no way of making you look worse than you already look.

"I never lied then and I'm not lying now. You'll have to forgive me if I can't remember every dot and comma, but the overriding truth remains the overriding truth."

Sheridan was today given permission by the trial judge, Lord Bracadale, to come out of the dock to cross-examine witnesses.

He told the jury he had listened to submissions from Sheridan and had decided to let him use the same lectern used by the advocate depute Alex Prentice QC.

The indictment against the Sheridans contains three charges in total, two of which are broken down into subsections.

It is alleged he made false statements as a witness in the defamation action of July 21 2006.

He also denies a charge of attempting to persuade a witness to commit perjury shortly before the 23-day trial got under way.

Gail Sheridan denies making false statements on July 31 2006, after being sworn in as a witness in the civil jury trial.

The trial continues.