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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Douglas Dickie & John-Paul Clark

Tommy Sheridan declared bankrupt over legal bill

Firebrand Scots politician Tommy Sheridan has been declared bankrupt with debts over £80,000.

Sheridan could see his property seized to cover £82,000 in legal bills and it is expected a trustee will be appointed to take control of the politician's finances. His name will be added to the insolvency register after he failed to prove he was the victim of a miscarriage of justice, the Scottish Daily Express reports.

The 58-year-old spent a year in prison after being convicted of perjury in 2010. After being ousted from the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) he started up his own party before falling into the independence movement in recent years.

A spokesman for the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC), who raised the bankruptcy action earlier this year, said: "The SCCRC lodged a petition for sequestration of Mr Sheridan at Glasgow Sheriff Court in April in respect of outstanding judicial 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."

Sheridan rose to prominence during the protests against Margaret Thatcher's poll tax in the 80s and 90s and went on to lead the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP). He was elected to the Scottish Parliament and served between 1999 and 2003.

He stepped down as party leader in 2004 after lurid allegations emerged about his private life and former SSP colleagues gave evidence against him in a defamation case at the court of Session in Edinburgh in 2006.

He won the case and was awarded £200,000 in damages, but as further information came to light Sheridan was charged with perjury a year later, found guilty and sentenced to three years in jail.

He split from the SSP in 2006 and set up is own Solidarity party, eventually joining Alex Salmond's Alba Party last year.

After his release from prison Sheridan appeared in Celebrity Big Brother.

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