In 2006, Tommy Sheridan, formerly convenor of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP), successfully sued the newspaper News of the World for defamation after it printed a series of articles containing allegations that an MSP had had affairs and visited a sex club.

On 2 October 2006, the Procurator Fiscal decided that there were grounds for an investigation into perjury, and instructed Lothian and Borders Police to proceed.

[9][10] At a preliminary hearing at the High Court in Edinburgh on 13 July 2009, the indictment against Tommy and Gail Sheridan was made public.

Both accused took pleas in bar of trial on the basis of prejudicial pre-trial publicity, and sought to raise devolution minutes.

At a preliminary hearing at the High Court in Edinburgh between 28 and 30 July 2010, the trial judge Lord Bracadale, heard legal arguments on these matters.

Due to the high-profile nature of the case, Lord Bracadale took the somewhat unusual step of issuing a note, setting forth his reasons for repelling the preliminary pleas and detailing his directions given to the jury with respect to media publicity.

[15] Bob Bird, Scottish editor of the News of the World, gave evidence about how the paper acquired the tape.

The next day Tom Watson MP contacted the Information Commissioner, asking him to investigate whether the News of the World was in breach of the Data Protection Act.

[19] Katrine Trolle, a Danish woman who was the SSP candidate in Aberdeen North in the 2003 Scottish Parliament election, claimed that she had had an affair with Sheridan (on one occasion in the bedroom in his home in Glasgow) and visited Cupids sex club with him on 27 September 2002.

[22] Anvar Khan, a News of the World journalist, claimed that she had visited Cupids sex club with Sheridan and had an affair with him.

A number of SSP activists also claimed that in the course of discussions Sheridan had made admissions about his personal life inconsistent with his evidence in the civil trial.

[25][26][27] The final chapter of the prosecution case involved a sex party which Sheridan allegedly attended at the Moat House Hotel in Glasgow.

Many of the witnesses called by Sheridan were members of Solidarity, his own party, including Hugh Kerr, Rosemary Byrne and Mike Gonzalez.

BBC Scotland broadcast a radio drama based on the trial, with Gavin Mitchell as Tommy Sheridan, Karen Dunbar as Gail, and Julie Wilson Nimmo as Katrine Trolle.

In August 2011, leave to appeal was refused at the second sift [42] In the light of the News of the World phone hacking affair, the Crown Office instructed the Strathclyde Police to reassess the evidence.

A few people involved in the case were candidates in the 2012 Glasgow City Council election: Gail Sheridan, and Frances Curran and Joyce Drummond who were witnesses.