Andy Coulson, the former editor of the News of the World, vowed yesterday to “vigorously contest” allegations that he committed perjury during the 2010 trial of Tommy Sheridan.
Mr Coulson, the Prime Minister’s former communications chief, was charged by Strathclyde Police on Wednesday night over testimony he gave during the Socialist MSP’s trial.
A report is to be sent to the procurator fiscal which will decide if Mr Coulson will face court proceedings. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service confirmed there was no time limit on a decision.
In a statement yesterday, his solicitor Jo Rickards of law firm DLA Piper said: “Andy Coulson will vigorously contest the perjury allegations made against him yesterday by Strathclyde Police, should they ever result in a trial. We have no further comment at this stage.”
Mr Coulson, 44, was detained at his London home early Wednesday morning and taken to Glasgow for six hours of questioning at Govan police station. Strathclyde Police then announced that he had been arrested and charged with perjury.
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He was released before 10pm and is thought to have flown back from London from Edinburgh early yesterday. He arrived back at his home in Dulwich, south east London, at 8.30am.
A Crown Office spokesman said there was no legal obligation for him to stay in Scotland.
Sheridan, who conducted his own defence, questioned Mr Coulson for two days in December 2010 about a hacking operation against him carried out by Glenn Mulcaire, and about what he had known about it. Mr Coulson told the trial that he had no knowledge of illegal activities by reporters while he was Editor between 2003 and 2007. He was arrested last year in relation to Scotland Yard’s long-running investigation into phone hacking at the now defunct tabloid.
Operation Rubicon detectives have been looking at whether certain witnesses lied to the court during Sheridan’s trial as part of a “full” investigation into phone hacking in Scotland.
Perjury carries a maximum life sentence in Scotland.
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Sheridan was jailed for three years in January last year after being found guilty of perjury during his 2006 defamation action against the NoW.