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Tommy Sheridan

Tommy Sheridan says he will appeal to High Court to expose ‘lies and damned lies’

By Hamish Mackay

January 31, 2012 | 3 min read

Former socialist MSP Tommy Sheridan has declared he is going to appeal to the High Court to expose “lies and damned lies “against him.

Sheridan was released from prison yesterday after serving one-third of his three-year sentence for committing perjury during his successful defamation action in 2006 against the News of the World.

The Herald reports today that Sheridan pledged to fight his conviction in the courts and said he hoped to take an active part in the campaign for Scottish independence.

Sheridan's legal team has claimed that he was banned from speaking to the media under the terms of his release, however was lifted just prior to his departure from prison.

The Herald reports: “Sheridan believes clear proof of admissions of criminal misconduct by the now -defunct News of the World when it was investigating his private life would have influenced the jury, particularly over claims his phone was illegally hacked.”

The paper quotes him as saying: "We will continue to fight to clear my name.

"We are determined to highlight the contrasts in treatment between the 20-plus News of the World former journalists, I've lost count, who have been arrested for illegal activities (and myself).

“I've not read of any of them who had their homes raided over a mammoth nine-hour search or their children traumatised in the interests in justice.

"Well, I have news for them and for others. This fight is far from over and this story has not yet finished.

"I believe I will return to Glasgow High Court within the near future but not as an accused, but as an accuser of witnesses at my trial for the lies and damned lies they gave in the course of the evidence that was given that allowed a narrow conviction to be passed on December 23 of last year.

"We are confident that, once the lies of those perjurers are highlighted, we will have a very strong appeal that will hopefully lead to the quashing of my unfair, unsafe and unsound conviction."

The paper also says that Sheridan’s lawyer, Aamer Anwar, has indicated the possibility of civil action in relation to phone hacking and that he would be use a the Freedom of Information act to discover what advice the Scottish Prison Service was given to propose the gagging order against Sherdian speaking to the media on his release.

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