Scottish sex scandal court case nears climax

Because he sacked his entire legal team halfway through the case, Sheridan will have to take evidence from his wife himself in what is bound to be one of the most surreal scenarios yet in what one witness has already described as 'this bizarre pantomime'.

Sheridan, who is becoming more convincing as a lawyer by the day, frequently refers to himself in court in the third person. Their exchange tomorrow could resemble some kind of weird rehearsal for the soon-to-be-revived Seventies game show Mr and Mrs: 'Mrs Sheridan, is Tommy Sheridan's weakness (a) Scrabble and sunbeds or (b) champagne, cocaine and swingers' sex clubs?'

The members of the jury, who were told at the beginning of the month that the case would last for around two weeks, but who have spent day after scorching July day inside a fiercely air-conditioned court room, must be beginning to wonder if they are part of some hare-brained reality TV show.

Reyn really seems to be on a sex theme lately. Can't wait until the next installment. :wink:

Sheridan accuses MI5 and Murdoch over 'mother of stitch-ups'

· Video confession a fake, says former party leader
· News of World 'wanted revenge' after libel defeat

Wednesday October 4, 2006
The Guardian

Tommy Sheridan yesterday accused his former close friends and allies of conspiring with MI5 and Rupert Murdoch to "fake" a video which apparently records him confessing to visiting a swingers bar in Manchester. The former Scottish Socialist party leader claimed yesterday that the video was "concocted" by his enemies as part of a concerted effort to smear him and his party which was orchestrated by the News of the World.

Asked why the paper would go to such great lengths to produce a faked tape, he claimed it was in revenge for his libel victory in August. "Why would they want to do this? Because they lost £200,000 in court. They're facing a legal bill of half a million pounds and after the court case Mr Murdoch himself at a meeting said he didn't care how long it takes, he wants that little commie bastard destroyed. That's what's at stake."

His claims came as it emerged that the Crown Office, which oversees prosecutions in Scotland, has launched a criminal inquiry into claims that Mr Sheridan and other witnesses had perjured themselves in his recent £200,000 defamation case against the newspaper.

Extracts from the tape were published last weekend and apparently record Mr Sheridan making several confessions that he made two visits to the swingers bar and had confessed as much at a meeting of the SSP.

The News of the World said the tape - which it said was secretly recorded by Mr Sheridan's best man, George McNeilage, in November 2004 - would be a key part of its appeal against Mr Sheridan's libel victory against the paper in August.

During five weeks of often lurid testimony, 11 former SSP colleagues, including several MSPs, claimed that Mr Sheridan had confessed to his infidelity at a private party meeting in late 2004.

However, the jury found in his favour following emotional denials of the claims by Mr Sheridan and his wife Gayle. The judge awarded Mr Sheridan £200,000 in damages and costs against the NoW, which is contesting the jury's decision.

But the MSP, now leader of the breakaway party Solidarity, insisted yesterday he had never visited Mr McNeilage's home, where the tape was allegedly recorded, and had never made the confessions. "I said it was concocted as soon as I heard about it because I know that I wasn't in the house in question. I have never been in the house in question."

The last time he had spoken with his former friend and best man had been in a car journey through Glasgow that month. It was possible, he claimed, that their conversation then was secretly recorded.

He said some parts of the tape - which were released by the News of the World on Sunday - appeared to be his words "spliced" with other voices. This was "easy" with modern computer technology. "Sometimes you think that maybe sounds like me and then you listen to the tape for a continuous period of six to eight minutes and you can now hear what sounds like water running, you can hear what's in the background and it becomes clear that what's happened is that someone else's voice has been used."

He claimed that Mr McNeilage had been paid £20,000 by the News of the World for the tape, which had been handed to the paper by the SSP soon after the newspaper lost its defamation case.

This, he alleged, marked a new low in the collusion between his political rivals, the SSP, and his political enemies, News International and the intelligence services. It was, he said, the "mother of all stitch-ups".

He added: "I wouldn't be surprised if the state was involved. The state has a fine history of trying to destabilise socialist movements and trade union struggles. They do it for a living. That's why they were set up originally. When the history of this whole episode is written, I think you will find that MI5 certainly was involved." [..]

'Sheridan trial shame has left my life in ruins'

Her sexual past was laid bare, her boyfriend dumped her and she was labelled a perjurer. Now Katrine Trolle has fled Britain. Her claims about the socialist ex-leader were rejected by a libel jury, but she insists: 'I told the truth'

Sunday August 13, 2006
The Observer

Before Katrine Trolle was branded a liar and a perjurer and had her sexual history rummaged through in eye-watering detail by every newspaper in Britain, she was just an ordinary, anonymous woman living an ordinary, anonymous life.

She had a job she loved, a partner she thought she would grow old with, and a large circle of friends. Then she appeared as a key witness against Tommy Sheridan, the former leader of the Scottish Socialist Party, in his libel case against the News of the World. Last week, as the fallout from the trial continued to dominate headlines in Scotland, Trolle, a 31-year-old Dane, fled the country she had grown to love and regard as home because she felt so humiliated. [..]

Trolle moved to Scotland 10 years ago after travelling through south east Asia and Russia. Before the case her mother was delighted that at last the youngest of her three daughters was settling down. She had been with her boyfriend for 18 months and they had been making plans for the future together: saving up to holiday in Dubai, then the Caribbean.

Trolle loved her job as an occupational therapist in a locked psychiatric ward in a hospital on the outskirts of Dundee. To relax, she hit Scotland's empty country roads on her beloved motorbike or went drinking and dancing with friends. She was held in high esteem by her colleagues and managers as hard-working, honest and trustworthy.

But now she is one of the 18 key witnesses who stand accused of lying and whose professional reputations and integrity have been cast in doubt. In her case, her personal life has been ruined. [..]

It was nine days ago that Sheridan pulled off his extraordinary victory. [..] Sheridan successfully argued that the witnesses who testified against him, including three members of the Scottish parliament, lifelong friends and Trolle, were motivated either by money or political jealousy. He denied all the allegations, saying he was part of a 'stitch-up', and the jury found in his favour and awarded him £200,000 in damages. Sheridan called it a 'victory for truth'.

During the trial Trolle gave evidence that she had sex with Sheridan in his home, had a threesome with him and his brother-in-law, and went to a swingers' club in Manchester with him. She said it was not an affair, but a casual fling of between five and seven encounters over four years. Sheridan denies all the claims. He did not deny knowing Trolle - his phone records showed that he contacted her 83 times in a year - but insisted she was just a friend.

Since Sheridan's victory, the party he co-founded has gone to war, with the internal battle played out daily in the Scottish press. The Sheridans have become media celebrities. They have sold their story for a reported £25,000 to the Daily Record and its sister paper, the Sunday Mail

They have been photographed in matching towelling bathrobes with their 14-month-old daughter, Gabrielle. In one photograph their baby is clutching a copy of the Record, oblivious to the fact that a few years previously it had repeatedly attacked Sheridan's politics and his party. Mrs Sheridan, whose testimony helped to secure her husband's victory, has appeared on GMTV, has been invited on to Richard & Judy and offered a beauty column in the Record

Last week Sheridan posed topless for Harry Benson, the renowned New York-based photojournalist, to verify his wife's evidence that he was 'hairy like an ape'. Benson, who was in Edinburgh for an exhibition celebrating 50 years of his work, asked if he could photograph Sheridan for a book of portraits.

Sheridan wants to win back the party leadership and is vowing to 'destroy the scabs' who 'collaborated with the enemy' during the trial. However, after a ferocious backlash from former allies who took offence at lifelong socialists being branded 'scabs', he then said he might quit politics, if his wife wanted him to, and retrain as a lawyer. [..]

Trolle has tried to remain upbeat. 'The truth will come out,' she said. 'I have to believe that. When I heard the verdict, my first thought was I should have lied. Then I'd still have my boyfriend, sordid details about me wouldn't have been all over the papers and, ironically, I wouldn't now be branded a liar. My English doesn't stretch to say what I think of Tommy Sheridan.'

She is not seeking sympathy. 'Nobody forced me to do anything I didn't want to do. I wasn't like a lamb to the slaughter.' But Trolle said there was no logical reason why she would concoct such a story. Two of her friends, Ruth Adamson and her boyfriend Ralph Barnett, also gave evidence that Sheridan had arrived at the house Trolle and Adamson shared. They said that, after brief pleasantries, Sheridan and Trolle went upstairs to her bedroom.

'What on earth could I ever gain from making up a story like this about myself? I've not made money. I've not got any political ambitions. I've got a job which I love and I trained really hard for.

'It's hard enough getting an honours degree at university, but having to do it in a second language is even tougher. I have great friends and I had a beautiful relationship with my boyfriend, which is no more. It is very embarrassing having these sordid, intimate details of your past all over the papers. I'm not like that any more and I have changed. I was young and reckless. But I was cited as a witness and I had no choice but to tell the truth. I had nothing to gain and everything to lose from doing so.'

Although her partner knew about the fling before the trial, he found the media interest intolerable. He ended their relationship before the verdict. 'I had told him everything, but he just couldn't handle it when it all came out. Maybe it was difficult if his friends and family were reading it. The hardest part of all for me is that I've lost my boyfriend. I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with him. Finally, I thought, this is it. I've cracked it. I've found the one and only.'

When Sheridan cross-examined Trolle, he initially suggested she was lying to support her friend who, he said, was part of a political plot to undermine him. Later he said it was because she had been offered money. He also questioned her about the number of sexual partners she had.

'The idea that some of the women in the SSP talked me into this is utter rubbish. I'm not the kind of person that could be talked into doing something I didn't want to do, especially something as serious as lying in court.' [..]

Before leaving for Edinburgh airport, she scanned Tuesday's Daily Record. When she reached pages 4 and 5, she sighed heavily. Under the headline 'I am fit to lead' was a photograph of Sheridan lifting weights, doing sit-ups and jogging with a reporter. 'Oh, Christ Almighty,' Trolle said. 'How could I ever have been so stupid?'

She read out one of his quotes: 'Being fit and healthy is vital for me and for my family. The fitter I am, the harder I can fight those who tried to destroy me.' Shaking her head in disbelief, she said: 'I think I am actually beginning to feel quite sorry for him.'

Like many SSP members, Trolle joined the party the first time she heard Sheridan address a public meeting. In an era of automaton politicians with a fine line in political clichés, he made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

'Like everyone else, I got carried away with him. He is a very good orator. I thought, "Wow, there's a politician with integrity who stands up for what he believes in." I really admired that, and I thought that's the party for me.'

She was first introduced to him in the run-up to the Glasgow Anniesland by-election in November 2000. She was 25. 'He was charming and charismatic. We canvassed together and flirted a lot.'

At the time, she said she did not think about Mrs Sheridan. 'That is selfish, very selfish, and I am ashamed of it. But at the time I thought that was his problem. Now I feel very sorry for her because she must think the world of him. [..]

The whole courtroom experience, she said, still felt surreal. [..]

'My dad is in a rage. Not about the sex. We're very open about sex: that's why we don't need to lie about it. But he is the main socialist in the family and he is disgusted about the lying and that people have been called scabs. [..]

Party rivals renew attacks on Sheridan as Socialist split looms

Sunday August 27, 2006
The Observer

Tommy Sheridan's hopes of an 'amicable divorce' from the Scottish Socialist Party were thwarted yesterday after the party's trade union organiser launched a scathing attack on his former leader.

Richie Venton, who is not a member of either the pro- or anti-Sheridan factions, said Sheridan was intent on destroying the party to protect his own career. 'Since when should one individual's control and power take precedence over the greater good of the socialist party?' he said in a statement on the party's website.

Venton, who played a pivotal role in the miners' strike and the Wapping dispute, was branded a 'scab' by Sheridan for giving evidence against him during his defamation battle against the News of the World
Sheridan, although he did not apologise, later expressed regret that he had used the word in public to describe lifelong socialists.

A formal split in the SSP is likely to be announced early this week. On Friday, Sheridan said he would set up a new party named 'Solidarity - Scotland's Socialist Movement', which will fight the SSP at next year's elections. [..]

The former leader will leave the SSP along with Rosemary Byrne, the party's MSP for the South of Scotland. The Socialist Worker and Committee for a Workers' International platforms of the party have voted to join Sheridan.

But in his statement, Venton said there was no place for two socialist parties in Scotland. [..] The only winners of such 'wrecking tactics', he added, would be pro-market parties that 'abhor trade unionism and socialism'. He accused Sheridan of being disloyal and irresponsible to working-class people whose hopes had been raised when the Scottish left had united into one party. [..]

His comments come after a founding member of the party quit, saying being a member was like being 'stuck in a sack full of angry wasps'. In his resignation letter, Kevin Williamson accused Sheridan of fighting dirty and humiliating women who gave evidence against him: 'It was a strategy based on win at all costs and to hell with the consequences.' [..]