Tommy Sheridan

[Sandra]

[Porty]

[Dadaist]

[Dadaist]

[Porty]

[foxy]

[Poppy]

[Dadaist]

[Porty]

[Dadaist]

[Porty]

[Dadaist]

[Epykat]

[rathbone]

[Porty]

[Dadaist]

[Porty]

[Dadaist]

From someone in the SSP who has been attending the case :

[quote]Tommy Sheridan versus News International - the first five days

I have attended on all of the first 5 days of Tommy’s defamation case, although I missed most of Thursday due to my daughter’s graduation. I am providing this summary, and any subsequent updates I can manage, for signatories of the SSP Members Open Letter, as mediated by Anne Macleod. I have been requested to do so by several signatories. It is intended to counteract mainstream media bias and selectivity, and it is not aimed at distribution or publication beyond these signatories, and certainly not intended in any way to influence the outcome of the jury of 12’s deliberations. Where views are expressed they are strictly my own, as formed during experience of the case.

The case is being held in Court 6 of the Court of Session in the Lawnmarket in Edinburgh, in a very small courtroom holding only 18 members of the public. Court 6 is the only one with high-tech equipment that allows instantly-visible stenography and also the electronic display of documents and videos. Thus far the family and supporters of Tommy have occupied the majority of these 18 seats, with a few going to inveterate court addicts and several to SSP members aligned elsewhere. Anyone wishing to attend should arrive before 9am in the morning and by 1.20 pm in the afternoon - even then there is no guarantee. There are mid-morning and mid-afternoon breaks, at around 11.30 and 3, but very few seats change hands once a session has started.

During the first 5 days there have been only 7 witnesses, all called by the defenders of the action, News International. 4 of the witnesses have been paid workers for the News of the World, the Scottish news editor, Douglas Wight, where ‘news’ is used in a wholly new way, 2 stringers, Alan Caldwell and Ken Adams, and a relationships adviser, Anvar Khan, who is very touchy if you call her a ‘sex columnist’. The evidence of these 4 can be described in various ways. Inventive. Uncorroborated. Colourful. Laughable. We, Joe and Jo Public, were warned on the very first day by Lord Caldwell, the presiding judge, for laughing at it. We would be ejected from the court for intimidating witnesses, he said. On the second day, he warned us again. Only this time, it was the jury who started the laughing. Yesterday, as Anvar Khan’s credibility collapsed, it was the judge who was cracking jokes. I wonder if we might stop there, said Tommy’s QC at 4.15, it’s been a hot day. Yes, it is hotting up, said Lord Caldwell, shall we continue, for another ten minutes say?

The 2 stringers fed the News of the World with uncorroborated hearsay, in one case from an anonymous source. This is what has been appearing luridly in the daily press and media bulletins as though it is ‘fact’. Do not be dismayed, comrades. I have no doubt the jury knows a farrago of shite when it sees and hears it. It is unfortunate but predictable that the demolition of the credibility of these total non-witnesses by Tommy’s QC, Richard Keen and by his number two Mr Henderson, has hardly appeared in the media. After all, much of the prurient but more legally-timid Scottish media is very glad to up their sales on the back of the News of the Screws, whose Scottish news editor, Douglas Wight, has blatantly admitted in court that he tells lies to his clients to extract ‘stories’. He also , of course, pays them, with £20K being seen as a ‘low’ payout.

The other 3 witnesses, unfortunately, have been prominent members of the SSP. Whatever ‘defiance strategy’ may have been erected two months ago for the temporary non-release of dubious SSP ‘documents’ to the bourgeois courts, this seems now to have collapsed like a wet sand-dune. Alleged private conversations with and about Tommy Sheridan have been retailed to the courts, sometimes with a brief show of resistance, as in the case of Alan McCombes; sometimes with a histrionic catch in the voice as though to say, ‘This is all so sad, but I have to say it’; as in the case of Allison Kane; and sometimes showing astonishing evidence of probable prior collusion with the News of the World’s legal team, as was the case yesterday with Keith Baldassara.
All 3 of these comrades may confidently be expected to appear shortly either in very long beards or with lipstick skewed -Â

[Bob Jefferson]

Fascinating! So what we want to know Dada, exclusively for Portobello Gossip and Tittle Tattle Online, is how much do you personally know about these alleged events? Can you confirm or deny that any of these sordid menages á trois/quatre/cinq/whatever took place? Did you have any personal involvement? Do you have photographs?

Epykat - I seem to recall that you know more about this sort of thing than you are letting on. Are you willing to spill the beans or are you holding out for £20 k?

I'm not getting into a bidding war but there could be a drink in it for both of you. Think about it.

[Dadaist]

[Epykat]

[Epykat]

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[Epykat]

[Cleopas]

[Epykat]

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[Poppy]

Tonight's headline in the Glasgow "Evening Times":

UNHAPPY TOMMY DROPS HIS LEGAL BRIEFS

[Epykat]

Allegedly it's not the first time Tommy's briefs have been dropped

[Cleopas]

Does anyone have the inside on Tommy's briefs?

[foxy]

[Epykat]

[Bob Jefferson]

Almost unbelievably, Sheridan wins! But will we ever get the truth?

[ifstar]

[Sandra]