Former Scottish Socialist Party leader Tommy Sheridan was today convicted of lying during his defamation case against the News of the World newspaper.
The jury of 12 women and two men deliberated for six and a half hours before finding Sheridan guilty of perjury after a 12-week trial at the high court in Glasgow.
Sheridan had been awarded £200,000 following his successful 2006 defamation action at the Court of Session in Edinburgh after the newspaper claimed he was an adulterer who visited swingers’ clubs.
He was originally charged alongside his wife Gail but the charge against her was dropped last Friday.
Following the civil court action against the tabloid, Sheridan and his wife, both aged 46, were charged with perjury.
Lothian and Borders Police launched an investigation after witnesses gave opposing accounts of what happened.
At the start of the trial in October, Sheridan faced 18 allegations, which were reduced by the prosecution to six.
The court heard from a succession of high-ranking members of the SSP who said Sheridan had confessed to attending a swingers’ club in Manchester on two occasions.
Sheridan always maintained his innocence and claimed there was a vendetta against him.
The Glasgow member of the Scottish Parliament finished the trial representing himself after sacking his lawyers. He had sued the tabloid after it printed the claims in 2004-05.
Sheridan helped found the left-wing party which at one point had six members of the Scottish Parliament, and he led it until November 2004 when he stood down after the paper printed a story about an unnamed Holyrood politician who was a "spanking swinger".
Speaking after his successful action, Sheridan said: "We have over the last five weeks taken on one of the largest organisations on the planet, with the biggest amount of resources to pay for the most expensive legal team, to throw nothing but muck against me, my wife and my family.
"Well, brothers and sisters, what today's verdict proves is that working-class people, when they listen to the arguments, can differentiate the truth from the muck."
Of the News of the World, he said: "They are liars and we have proved that they are liars." He said that his victory was the equivalent of footballing minnows Gretna beating Real Madrid on penalties.
Agencies