Shamed socialist politician Tommy Sheridan declared bankrupt

Disgraced socialist politician Tommy Sheridan has been declared bankrupt after a failed attempt to prove he was the victim of a miscarriage of justice.

The former MSP and ex-leader of the Scottish Socialist Party, who was jailed for perjury, could have his income and assets seized to pay an £82,000 legal bill.

Sheridan joined Alex Salmond's Alba Party last year ahead of the Holyrood elections. had been due to stand for AfI - formerly known as Action for Independence, which withdrew all of its candidates just hours after announcing them following the news of the formation of Alba

However, he can now cannot stand in any elections until he has been discharged from bankruptcy - which is usually after a year.

Tommy Sheridan and wife Gail at a pro-independence march in Glasgow in 2015.

Decades in left wing politics came to an end after a legal case which saw sordid claims of swingers' parties and extramarital affairs aired in Scotland's highest courts.

Official documents show that 58-year-old Sheridan has recently been added to the Insolvency Register, while a trustee has been appointed to take control of his finances to ensure as much as possible of the debt is repaid.

The bankruptcy was sought by publicly funded justice watchdog the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC).

A spokesman for the SCCRC said: “The SCCRC lodged a petition for sequestration of Mr Sheridan at Glasgow Sheriff Court in April in respect of outstanding judicial expenses due by Mr Sheridan to the SCCRC.

“The petition for sequestration was granted by the court and the matter is in the hands of a court-appointed trustee.”

Sheridan sued the News of the World for defamation after the paper published a story in 2004 alleging that he had cheated on his wife Gail with a woman called Fiona McGuire.

In 2006, a jury awarded him £200,000 after Sheridan described how the claims made by Ms McGuire detrimentally affected his reputation of being a family man. The paper claimed that he was an adulterer who attended a swingers club. It was also heard that he took part in group sex and took cocaine. Sheridan denied ever doing these things.

His wife gave evidence on his behalf and stood by him throughout the allegations. After a five-week trial, the jury ruled that the newspaper's false claims had damaged Sheridan's reputation as a family man and he was awarded £200,000 in damages.

However, in December 2010, Sheridan was convicted at the High Court in Glasgow of committing perjury during the defamation proceedings.

The politician was a prominent opponent of the poll tax introduced by Margaret Thatcher and was elected as the SSP's sole MSP in the first Holyrood elections in 1999. He was re-elected in 2003, despite being jailed for non-payment of fines relating to a breach of the peace at an anti-nuclear demo at Faslane.

Mr Sheridan then appealed to the SCCRC to try to clear his name and when it decided he was not the victim of a miscarriage of justice, sought a judicial review of its decision.

However, a judge ruled against him and ordered him to pay SCCRC legal expenses of £82,488.

Sheridan has been approached for comment.