Tommy Sheridan 'panicked when he saw Glaswegians at sex club'

Anvar Khan, a former News of the World columnist, told the High Court in Glasgow she was at Cupid's club with the former Scottish Socialist MSP in September 2002.

But she said Sheridan was recognised by someone from Glasgow after they entered the club in a "broken down industrial estate" in Manchester.

Ms Khan also told the trial yesterday the encounter in Manchester was one of several sexual experiences she had with Sheridan since meeting him.

She said that she "believed" that Sheridan had been married when some of the liaisons took place. She claimed that she had had sex with Sheridan beneath a Che Guevara picture in his bedroom and they had previously had a "snog" in the Glasgow Chambers soon after they met.

She said she thought the visit to Cupid's happened on Friday September 27, 2002. She said there was a large central area and screens on the wall showing pornography and smaller areas.

Ms Khan told the court: "He panicked as soon as we went in because there were a couple of people from Glasgow who recognised him immediately."

The group was introduced to the couple from Glasgow later that evening at a party in a house in Manchester, the court heard.

She said they spent three to four hours at the house, leaving in the early hours of Saturday morning, adding she was "pretty pissed". She said she arrived back in Glasgow as dawn was breaking.

The politician is on trial accused of lying under oath during his successful defamation action against the News of the World newspaper in 2006.

Sheridan denies lying to the courts during the action, 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. They deny the charges. Sheridan won 200,000 in damages after the newspaper printed the allegations.

Sheridan asked Ms Khan about a number of "inconsistencies" between her evidence in court yesterday and her evidence during the defamation hearing in 2006.

He said: "The mask you have brought with you to this court is beginning to fall off.You are here to bolster your friends at the News of the World and bolster their stories and their lies about me."

She replied: "Your assessment is neither realistic, nor is it fair."

He also asked about an affidavit she had given the News of the World about the visit to Cupid's in which she said the trip had taken place in 2001, not 2002.

She said the document had been "signed in haste" and she hadn't given it "due respect", and hoped if she had spent more time on it, she would have noticed the error.

Ms Khan said she included a fictionalised account of the visit to the swingers' club in her 2004 book Pretty Wild. She said the book was supposed to be a "Scottish version of Sex in the City" but she had used "artistic licence" and changed the names of people she spoke about.

She told the court she had revealed that "the book contained a very clouded reference to an MSP" during a publicity interview. But she said: "I have never spoken publicly about my relationship with Mr Sheridan unless I am under oath and have been forced to do so."

The trial, before Lord Bracadale, continues.