David Cameron’s former media chief Andy Coulson has gone on trial in Scotland for alleged perjury.
At the opening day of his trial in the high court in Edinburgh on Friday, Coulson pleaded not guilty to lying in the 2010 perjury trial of the Scottish politician Tommy Sheridan. The trial, before Lord Burns, is expected to last four weeks.
Coulson, 47, of Preston, Kent, a former editor of the defunct News of the World and former head of communications in Downing Street, faces two counts of falsely testifying in Sheridan’s case.
Flanked by two security guards in the dock, he sat impassively as the three-page indictment was read out. It said that Coulson lied about his knowledge of alleged phone hacking by the paper’s former royal editor and a private investigator used by the paper in 2006. In a separate count, it said he falsely testified that he had no knowledge of payments allegedly made to corrupt police officers by staff at the paper when he was editor.
Burns told the 15 jury members they must be impartial in their considerations and try the case solely on the evidence they heard from the witness box. He said it was probable they had heard about Sheridan and Coulson and formed views about them but that they must ignore everything they thought they knew.
“It would be completely wrong to be influenced in any way by such views or opinions,” Burns said.
Sheridan, the former Scottish Socialist party leader and Solidarity MSP, was tried for alleged perjury in a defamation case he brought against the News of the World in 2006. Coulson was a witness in the trial and was questioned by Sheridan over his knowledge of phone hacking.
The tabloid printed allegations about Sheridan’s private life, including claims that he visited a swingers’ club and cheated on his wife.
Coulson was charged with perjury last August in Glasgow.
The trial continues.
