During the trial, Bob Bird, as editor of the newspaper, testified that he had authorised the payment of £14,000 to two women in return for their story.
[5][6] Bird paid £200,000 for the secret video footage, which his newspaper claimed showed Sheridan admitting to his extramarital affairs.
[9] Bob Bird's testimony in the second trial came under renewed focus the following year, during the investigation into the News of the World phone hacking affair.
[10] Bird had testified during the trial that he had not authorised the use of telephone taps against Sheridan,[11] and that he had no dealing with Glen Mulcaire, the private investigator jailed for his role in the phone hacking affair.
[14] The Crown Office subsequently requested a formal investigation from the Strathclyde Police into the witness testimony given by Bird and others at the perjury trial,[15] amid claims from Sheridan's legal team that Bird's testimony was unsafe and that Sheridan would not have been jailed if information regarding the phone hacking and missing emails had been disclosed.