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Andy Coulson held in Tommy Sheridan trial perjury inquiry | Andy Coulson held in Tommy Sheridan trial perjury inquiry |
(40 minutes later) | |
Prime Minister David Cameron's former director of communications Andy Coulson has been detained by police investigating allegations of perjury. | Prime Minister David Cameron's former director of communications Andy Coulson has been detained by police investigating allegations of perjury. |
Mr Coulson, 44, was detained at his home in the Dulwich area of London at 06:30 by seven officers from Strathclyde Police. | Mr Coulson, 44, was detained at his home in the Dulwich area of London at 06:30 by seven officers from Strathclyde Police. |
He has been held on suspicion of committing perjury at the trial of former MSP Tommy Sheridan in 2010. | He has been held on suspicion of committing perjury at the trial of former MSP Tommy Sheridan in 2010. |
Mr Coulson is being taken to Glasgow, where he will be questioned. | |
A police spokeswoman said: "Officers from Strathclyde Police's Operation Rubicon team detained a 44-year-old man in London this morning under section 14 of the Criminal Procedure Scotland Act 1995 on suspicion of committing perjury before the High Court in Glasgow." | A police spokeswoman said: "Officers from Strathclyde Police's Operation Rubicon team detained a 44-year-old man in London this morning under section 14 of the Criminal Procedure Scotland Act 1995 on suspicion of committing perjury before the High Court in Glasgow." |
Mr Coulson is not under arrest. In Scotland a suspect is detained on suspicion of an offence unlike in England and Wales where a suspect is arrested. Mr Coulson has not been charged. | |
Mr Coulson gave evidence at the perjury trial of former Scottish Socialist MSP Tommy Sheridan in 2010. | |
Sheridan was awarded £200,000 in damages from the News of the World in 2006 after it printed allegations that he had committed adultery and visited a swingers' club. | |
Heated exchanges | |
After the court action, the former MSP and his wife Gail were charged with perjury. | |
She was acquitted during the subsequent trial, which led to her husband's conviction in December 2010. He has since been freed after serving just over a year of a three-year sentence. | |
Mr Coulson was called to give evidence at Sheridan's trial as he was editor of the News of the World between 2003 and 2007. | |
During heated exchanges with Sheridan, who represented himself at the trial, Mr Coulson denied being involved in, or aware of, any illegal activities, including phone hacking. | |
At the time of his two-day appearance, he was employed as Prime Minister David Cameron's director of communications. | |
Mr Coulson resigned from that post in January 2011, saying coverage of the News of the World phone hacking scandal had "made it difficult to give the 110% needed in this role". | |
In July 2011, he was arrested by Metropolitan Police investigating the News of the World hacking scandal and later released on bail. |