TOMMY Sheridan has been declared bankrupt after running up debts in a failed attempt to prove he was the victim of a miscarriage of justice.
The former Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) leader, who was the party’s first MSP when he was elected in 1999, could now have his home or belongings sold to pay off the legal fees he racked up while trying to prove he had been wrongfully imprisoned for lying in court.
Sheridan, now a member of the Alba Party, was sentenced to three years after a court found he had lied in an earlier defamation trial he launched to clear his name following lurid reports about his private life published in the News of the World.
He reportedly owes the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) more than £80,000 for legal fees he accumulated while trying to prove his innocence after serving a year in prison for perjury.
Fall from grace
Sheridan’s political career was derailed when stories appeared in the News of the World alleging he had taken cocaine and cheated on his wife Gail at swingers’ parties.
He had risen to prominence as a fierce opponent of the poll tax and led the SSP as a serious political force in Scotland, culminating in the passage of his bill to outlaw poindings and warrant sales.
But after successfully suing the now-defunct weekly tabloid for defamation, his case was reviewed and he was later found to have lied to court – resulting in a three-year sentence, of which he served one year.
The independence supporter said the police were influence by reports published in Rupert Murdoch’s papers.
Sheridan has been added to the Insolvency Register and is barred from standing for election for at least a year until he is discharged.
An SCCRC spokesman said: "In April 2022 the SCCRC lodged a petition at Glasgow Sheriff Court... for the sequestration of [Sheridan] in respect of outstanding judicial expenses due by [Sheridan] to the SCCRC following [his] unsuccessful judicial review of a decision by the SCCRC, in terms of section 194B of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, not to refer his conviction for perjury to the High Court of Justiciary.
"On 10 June 2022 [Glasgow Sheriff Court] granted the petition for sequestration, and the matter is now in the hands of a court-appointed trustee."
Sheridan declined to comment when approached by The National.
