The wife of former MSP Tommy Sheridan was cleared of perjury today.
Gail Sheridan, 46, had been accused of lying in court during her husband’s successful defamation action against the News of the World in 2006.
Today prosecutors at the High Court in Glasgow dropped the only remaining charge against her, of making false statements while under oath.
Gail Sheridan had been accused of lying as a witness at the libel trial at the Court of Session in Edinburgh by telling the court she had checked both her and her husband’s diaries for November 2001 and 2002, and that they had both been at home overnight during every weekend in those months.
She also said she remembered spending every weekend in those months with her husband.
Last month, the Crown dropped several other allegations against Mrs Sheridan and her husband.
But Tommy Sheridan still faces one charge of perjury.
He denies lying during his libel action against the the News of the World, in which he won damages of £200,000 after the newspaper printed claims about his private life.
Advocate depute Alex Prentice said today that he made the decision taking into account her “personal circumstances” and because he had earlier dropped a portion of the evidence against Sheridan.
The couple first met as pupils at Lourdes Secondary School in Glasgow.
They married in Glasgow in June 2000. Four years later the Sheridans announced they were expecting their first child.
Every day for 10 weeks, Mrs Sheridan walked by her husband’s side into the High Court in Glasgow.
Inside the courtroom she listened to claim after claim that he had cheated on her in a string of seedy encounters – claims that Sheridan denies.
Her acquittal was met with cheers from the public gallery as Mrs Sheridan wept and hugged her husband in the dock.
The judge then formally cleared her and she was able to leave the court.
The trial was adjourned until Monday.
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