Tommy Sheridan Case More Perjury Charges

Rosemary Byrne, the former MSP, is showing solidarity with her fellow Soldarity party co-convener Tommy Sheridan by now also being charged with perjury in connection with the lurid damages case that Tommy Sheridan won against the News of the World newspaper in 2006. Tommy Sheridan was himself charged with perjury in December last year. Rosemary Byrne was charged by Lothian and Borders police on Tuesday.

Byrne had given evidence on behalf of political firebrand Tommy Sheridan during his defamation case against the News of the World newspaper. The damages case arose from various allegations made in the newspaper about Tommy Sheridan's alleged lurid sexual antics, conduct and character. Tommy Sheridan sued the paper for defamation of character and, in what some described as a perverse verdict, he was awarded £200,000 damages.

The case split the far left Scottish Socialist Party assunder with members giving conflicting testimony for and against Sheridan. After the trial an investigation into allegations of perjury was ordered.

Following the splits in the Scottish Socialist Party, Sheridan went on to form the Solidarity Party but it recieved virtally no support in subsequent elections and Sheridan's political career seems finished.

A spokesman for Solidarity, Jim Monaghan, said "We consider this to be nothing more than a political witch-hunt."

Many of us considered that the damages trial result was a travesty and it will be interesting to see if the perjury charges which have now followed will at last reveal the truth about this murky episode in Scottish far left politics.
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