Sex club workers add new twist to perjury inquiry
STAFF in the sex club at the centre of the Tommy Sheridan defamation trial are said to have claimed they were offered bribes not to co-operate with the police inquiry into the court case, the Sunday Herald has learned.
Employees at Cupids in Manchester, where Sheridan was alleged to have participated in group sex, have apparently told police they were promised cash in exchange for keeping quiet about the club. Officers are now looking at whether witness tampering is marring their inquiry into the trial.
It is the latest development in the police investigation into last year's court battle between Sheridan, then a left-wing MSP, and the News Of The World.
The tabloid claimed in 2004 that Sheridan had been unfaithful to his wife and taken part in orgies. Sheridan sued the newspaper and, despite accusations of affairs with other women, won £200,000 in damages.
However, last summer's trial was marked by contradictory evidence, as upto a dozen of Sheridan's former Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) colleagues testified that he had confessed to visiting a swingers' club. He later left the SSP and formed new left-wing party Solidarity.
Lothian and Borders Police then confirmed it would be investigating whether perjury was committed during the trial.Officers stepped up their inquiries last month by questioning staff at the Cupids swingers' club.
Jurors heard allegations during the trial that Sheridan and several associates had visited the club and participated in group sex, claims made by journalist Anvar Khan and SSP member Katrine Trolle.
Trolle also said that she, Sheridan and others left the club for a couple's house, where further sexual activity took place. The jury rejected the allegations.
However, Cupids staff and management are now understood to have given statements to police in which they named some trial witnesses as having attended the club.
The Sunday Herald understands staff told police they were offered cash if they refused to co-operate with the criminal investigation.
A source close to the inquiry said a "third party", whose identity is thought to be known to the police, approached staff with a view to persuading them to keep quiet.
The incident is the second case of alleged witness tampering that police are investigating as part of their inquiry.
Helen Allison, who claimed during the trial that she saw Sheridan commit adultery in a Glasgow hotel, told police she was urged not to give evidence in court days before her appearance.
She claimed she was told by a man with a criminal past that she could make money by changing her evidence.
Meanwhile, police also recently questioned members of the SSP who testified against Sheridan during the trial. Former party co-chairwoman Catriona Grant, one-time MSP Frances Curran and Glasgow activist Keith Baldassara were among those contacted by Lothian and Borders officers.
It is understood Sheridan, his wife Gail, and several other witnesses have yet to be questioned.
A spokesman for Lothian and Borders said: "Inquiries are still ongoing."
A spokesman for Cupids declined to comment.
