THE defender in a £100,000 defamation action has admitted having a conviction for theft but insisted she told the truth in court.
SNP activist Sheena McCulloch was convicted and admonished after a trial in 2006 over the theft of around £4600 from a building society account, the Court of Session heard.
However she said she was not a perjurer and had given truthful evidence about Julie McAnulty.
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Ms McAnulty, a former SNP councillor in North Lanarkshire from 2012 to 2017, is suing Ms McCulloch for alleging she used the word “P***s” during a car journey in 2015.
Ms McAnulty has denied making the remark or holding racist views.
The court previously heard from Ms McAnulty that she travelled in Ms McCulloch’s car to and from a canvassing session on 20 June 2015 with Steven Bonnar, now a councillor.
Mr Bonnar told the court on Wednesday he had been in the car on 20 June 2015 and had not heard Ms McAnulty say the word “P***s”.
Ms McCulloch told the court Ms McAnulty had made the racist remark, but during a car journey on a different day in late May, when Mr Bonnar was not present.
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Ms McCulloch complained to SNP HQ on 5 February 2016 about the alleged remark, and the Daily Record reported it in a front page story three days later.
On day three of the proof before Lord Uist, Kenny McBrearty QC, for Ms McAnulty, put it to Ms McCulloch that she had not been honest in her evidence to the court.
“I disagree with you,” she replied.
Roddy Dunlop QC, for Ms McCulloch, then asked her: “You have admitted being admonished on a conviction of theft. Are you a perjurer?” She replied: “I am not.”
He asked: “Are you telling the truth?” She said: “I am.”
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The court has heard Ms McAnulty, a past employee of former MP Phil Boswell, and Ms McCulloch, who works for Uddingston MSP Richard Lyle, were on opposite sides of a bitter faction fight within the Lanarkshire SNP, with two groups vying for dominance.
Ms McAnulty claims she was the victim of a “smear campaign” by the rival faction.
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