Andy Coulson cleared of perjury as Scottish trial collapses

Ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson, 47, has been cleared of committing perjury while giving evidence in the trial of former member of the Scottish parliament, Tommy Sheridan.

Coulson was on trial for about two weeks at the High Court of Edinburgh accused of lying under oath when he appeared as a witness during Sheridan’s 2010 perjury trial in Glasgow — an allegation he denied.

But the case against him collapsed after a judge upheld a defence submission he had no case to answer.

Trial judge Lord Burns ruled the Crown had not shown Coulson’s allegedly false evidence was relevant in the Sheridan trial.

Speaking outside the court yesterday following his acquittal, Coulson, a former director of communications for British prime minister David Cameron, he said: “I am obviously delighted by the judge’s decision today. It was the right decision.

“This prosecution was always wrong. I didn’t lie and the prosecution, in my view, was a gross waste of public money. I am just delighted that after four pretty testing years that my family and myself have finally had a good day.”

Coulson was found guilty last June of conspiring to intercept voicemails at the now-defunct Sunday tabloid following a trial at the Old Bailey.

The prosecution case in the perjury trial centred around what they alleged to be lies told by Coulson at Sheridan’s about his knowledge of phone hacking.

Sheridan was accused of perjury at that stage and, while conducting his own defence, called Coulson as a witness. Sheridan’s trial was in respect of evidence he gave in an earlier 2006 civil action — a successful defamation case in Scotland’s Court of Session against the newspaper’s publishers, News Group International.

He went on trial for perjury in 2010 and was jailed for three years after being found guilty of lying about the tabloid’s claims that he was an adulterer who visited a swingers’ club.

Prosecutors in the new perjury trial alleged Coulson made false claims on December 9 and 10, 2010, after being sworn in as a witness.

The charge alleged he falsely stated that before the arrest of private investigator Glenn Mulcaire and News of the World journalist Clive Goodman on August 8, 2006, he did not know Goodman was involved in phone hacking with Mulcaire.

He pleaded not guilty.

The Crown led evidence from several former journalists at the paper as they tried to build a picture of practices while Coulson was editor from January 2003 until his resignation in January 2007.

But when the prosecution closed its case last Tuesday, Coulson’s legal team lodged a submission that there was no case to answer.The judge upheld the motion after two days of argument and acquitted Coulson on Monday.

But the acquittal was suspended and could not be reported until yesterday while the Crown decided whether it would appeal.