New turn as year-long investigation nears end

POLICE investigating last year's Tommy Sheridan defamation case are examining claims that the politician's sister voted against an SSP motion that called on witnesses not to commit perjury.

Lynn Sheridan allegedly opposed a motion that instructed her former Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) colleagues to "not lie or commit contempt of court".

The vote was alleged to have taken place days before Sheridan's court battle against the red-top Sunday newspaper the News Of The World started.

Sheridansuccessfullysuedthe Murdoch tabloid last summer after the newspaper claimed the former MSP was an adulterer who cheated on his wife with a one-time call girl.

A five-week trial, which was marked by lurid claims about Sheridan's private life, ended with a jury rejecting the allegations and awarding the politician £200,000 in damages. The newspaper is appealing the decision.

But the case was hampered by contradictory evidence - 11 of Sheridan's SSP colleagues claimed he had confessed to visiting a sex club - and resulted in the Lothian and Borders Police launching a perjury investigation.

The police handed over a seven-volume interim report to the Crown Office earlier this month, and are said to be close to the end of their year-long probe.

Officersarenowexaminingan alleged record of an SSP executive committee meeting from June last year, days before the trial started, which focused on how party officials who had been cited as witnesses should respond in court.

A proposal contained in the record stated: "In response to direct questions in court, those cited should not lie or commit contempt of court."

The document claims that 17 attendees voted in favour of the motion, while two people, one of whom was LynnSheridan,votedagainst. Police are also looking at the alleged notes of the meeting.

Lynn Sheridan, a lecturer at Glasgow Caledonian university, supported her brother during last year's trial and left the SSP after his court victory to form Solidarity. She subsequently stood for the party at May's Holyrood election, and is a prominent campaigner on equality issues. It is understood the police focus on the record is part of a wider set of allegations concerning a possible conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

As previously reported, detectives have questioned Sheridan ally Martin McCardieoveranSSPmotionhe drafted which called on another party minute to be destroyed.

John Lynn, who has served time for attempted murder, has also been quizzed about allegations that he tried to persuade a witness not to testify against Sheridan.

In a related development, the News Of The World was last week granted more time to prepare its case against last year's court verdict.

Appeal judges ruled that the continuing police inquiry was inhibiting the newspaper's appeal preparation, a decision that effectively postponed a planned hearing in December.

Alistair Clark QC, for News Group Newspapers, had argued in court that Lothian and Borders police asked for potential witnesses in their investigation to be left alone.

Lynn Sheridan said she had "no comment" to make on the allegations.

A spokesman for Solidarity declined to comment specifically on the SSP document, but said: "In general terms, you wouldn'tgetmanyleft-wingparties passing motions on co-operating with the police and the courts."

A spokesman for Lothian and Borders Police said: "Inquiries are continuing."