Sheridan accuses affair-claim witness of lying

Katrine Trolle told his perjury trial on Tuesday the politician had a string of sexual encounters with her – including having group sex at a swingers’ club in Manchester.

Sheridan, who is representing himself in his perjury trial at the High Court in Glasgow, yesterday called Ms Trolle a “conscious liar” and accused her of making up “stories”.

Sheridan and his wife Gail, both 46, are accused of lying under oath during his successful defamation action against the News of the World in 2006.

Sheridan denies lying to the courts during the trial, which followed the newspaper’s claims that he was an adulterer who visited swingers’ clubs.

The former Scottish Socialist Party MSP won 200,000 in damages after the newspaper printed the allegations about his private life.

He accused her of “cooperating” with the News of the World before the libel action, and asked her if she had been “coached” by the police before she gave evidence.

She said she had been visited by police, a representative of the procurator fiscal and the News of the World’s lawyers, but said she had not been told what to say.

Sheridan said: “You and whoever you were working with from the News of the World made up the house visit stories and the sex with me within weeks of meeting, a threesome within a month to lend weight to the swingers’ yarn.”

Ms Trolle denied she had lied, saying: “What would I have gained from working with or colluding with the News of the World?”

He said her allegations were a “downright lie”. She replied: “It is not, Tommy Sheridan. We were at the club together.”

The indictment against the Sheridans contains three charges in total, two of which are broken down into subsections.

It is alleged he made false statements as a witness in the defamation action of July 21 2006. He also denies a charge of attempting to persuade a witness to commit perjury shortly before the 23-day trial got under way.

Gail Sheridan denies making false statements on July 31 2006, after being sworn in as a witness in the civil jury trial.

Ms Trolle was asked about apparent “inconsistencies” between her testimony in 2006, and the evidence she gave the trial on Tuesday.

Ms Trolle said it was difficult to give evidence in her second language, and she found the experience of going to court difficult.

The hearing continues.