THE disgraced former perjurer Tommy Sheridan has been declared bankrupt.
The 58-year-old former leader of the Scottish Socialist and Solidarity parties was sequestrated over a legal bill of more than £82,000.
It followed the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) applying to Glasgow Sheriff Court in April for a sequestration order over unpaid legal expenses.
Mr Sheridan now faces having his assets and income seized.
A prominent MSP from 1999 to 2007, Mr Sheridan dramatically quit as leader of the Scottish Socialists in 2004 amid a tabloid sex scandal.
In 2006, he successfully sued the News of the World for defamation after it claimed he was an adulterer and a swinger who visited Cupid’s sex club in Manchester with a lover.
He was awarded £200,000 in damages by a jury at the Court of Session.
However, he was later prosecuted for lying under oath in the civil case and was jailed for three years in January 2011.
During his prosecution, he defended himself and subjected an alleged former lover and a series of ex-colleagues to prolonged cross-examinations and accused them of lying.
In 2015, he tried to clear his name by having the SCCRC declare his prosecution a miscarriage of justice, but two attempts failed.
In 2018, he challenged the SCCRC’s decision in court and lost, leading to a judge ordering him to pay the justice watchdog £82,448 in legal expenses - the bill that ultimately led to his bankruptcy.
After quitting the Scottish Socialist Party, Mr Sheridan formed the Solidarity party but failed to repeat the electoral success of the SSP, which won six MSPs at the 2003 Holyrood election.
An SCCRC spokesman said: “The SCCRC lodged a petition for sequestration of Mr Sherdian in April in respect of outstanding legal expenses due by Mr Sheridan to the SCCRC. The petition for sequestration was granted by the court... and the matter is in the hands of a court-appointed trustee.”
Mr Sheridan wound up Solidarity and joined Alex Salmond’s Alba party earlier this year.
A person is disqualified from standing for election while sequestrated.
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