Editor denies he lied during Sheridan trial
FORMER News of the World editor Andy Coulson has gone on trial accused of committing perjury during the prosecution of socialist politician Tommy Sheridan.
The 45-year-old pleaded not guilty to a charge which alleges he lied when giving evidence in the High Court in Glasgow in December 2010.
Murdo MacLeod QC, entered the plea on his client’s behalf at the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday.
He spoke as nine men and six women were empanelled to serve as the jury in the case.
The jurors heard the contents of a legal document detailing the allegations facing Coulson, a former director of communications for Prime Minister David Cameron.
During the two-hour hearing, judge Lord Burns told them to try Coulson based ‘solely and exclusively’ on the evidence led in court.
Lord Burns added: ‘You have to put aside any view you may have formed about any issues raised in this charge.’
Coulson entered the dock wearing a grey single-breasted suit, blue shirt and green tie and smiled as he sat between two security officers.
The charge facing him centres on the evidence he gave during a trial in which Sheridan was himself prosecuted for perjury.
Sheridan’s trial arose from civil proceedings which ended in him being awarded £200,000 at the Court of Session. He had sued the Scottish News of the World for defamation.
Prosecutors all ege t hat on December 9 and December 10, 2010, at the High Court in Glasgow, Coulson told a number of lies when giving evidence about his News of the World career.
They claim he lied when he said in evidence that he didn’t know that News of the World journalist Clive Goodman and private detective Glenn Mulcaire were involved in phone hacking. The Crown also claims he committed perjury when he said he didn’t know Mulcaire received payments from Goodman.
It is also alleged that Coulson, of Preston, Kent, was lying when he told the jury in the High Court in Glasgow that he didn’t know of Mulcaire’s ‘illegal activities’.
It is further alleged that he lied when he told the jury he didn’t know that Mulcaire was employed by the News of the World.
Prosecutors allege that between October 10, 2005, and August 8, 2006, Coulson knew that Goodman and the private detective were hacking phones.
The Crown also claims he knew that payments of £500 per week were made to Mulcaire by Goodman until February 2006.
It is further claimed that, following that date, Mulcaire received more payments, amounting to £4,800.
It is claimed that between December 2002 and January 2007, Coulson ‘understood’ that payments had been made to corrupt police officers by Goodman.
The indictment states that he knew of a payment of £750 made by Goodman in or around December 2002, one of £1,000 made in or around January 2003 and one of £1,000 made in or around June 2005.
Prosecutors say these payments were made to ‘procure a green book or other similar directories containing information relating to the Royal Family and their staff ’.
The case continues.