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| Andy Coulson's perjury trial: spectres of the hacking scandal and Sheridan case | Andy Coulson's perjury trial: spectres of the hacking scandal and Sheridan case |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Andy Coulson had been quite still and composed in the dock of court three, until one witness, a former colleague, turned to face him and spoke of what he said was the ex-editor’s knowledge of phone hacking. | |
| James Weatherup, a former news editor under Coulson at the News of the World, was giving apparently devastating evidence against his old boss only a few days into Coulson’s trial at the high court in Edinburgh for allegedly lying under oath at a previous trial four and a half years ago. | James Weatherup, a former news editor under Coulson at the News of the World, was giving apparently devastating evidence against his old boss only a few days into Coulson’s trial at the high court in Edinburgh for allegedly lying under oath at a previous trial four and a half years ago. |
| Weatherup had told the jury that hacking was “systematic” during Coulson’s regime, and claimed Coulson knew it too. Weatherup said he would give his editor a special hand signal, putting his fingers up to his ears to mimic a phone call, to signify hacking was used in a story. | Weatherup had told the jury that hacking was “systematic” during Coulson’s regime, and claimed Coulson knew it too. Weatherup said he would give his editor a special hand signal, putting his fingers up to his ears to mimic a phone call, to signify hacking was used in a story. |
| However, in cross-examination, Coulson’s defence lawyer Murdo MacLeod bluntly accused Weatherup of lying. That was a “great slur” on his character, Weatherup protested. “I feel sorry for Andy, I feel sorry for his wife, I feel sorry for his children. I have no reason to lie,” he said. | |
| Coulson dropped his head at that point, appearing to avoid Weatherup’s gaze, the first and only time during the eight days of hearings that his impassive appearance changed. | Coulson dropped his head at that point, appearing to avoid Weatherup’s gaze, the first and only time during the eight days of hearings that his impassive appearance changed. |
| Yet, despite the exchanges, Coulson had good reason to be confident. His legal team thought Weatherup’s testimony about his alleged knowledge of the telephone hacking then rife at the Sunday tabloid would soon be irrelevant. Coulson would be cleared of perjury because, simply put, Scotland’s prosecutors had got their law wrong. | |
| He leaves the high court in Edinburgh a free man, finally clear of a scandal that had dogged his life since his resignation as News of the World editor in 2007 following the conviction of his royal editor, Clive Goodman, for hacking phones and bribing sources, and just 10 months after his own conviction at the Old Bailey for conspiracy to hack phones. | |
| Scots law sets a precise definition of perjury in criminal trials. Previous case law had found that any false testimony had to be relevant to the central prosecution case in the trial where that evidence was given, MacLeod asserted. And in the extraordinary trial where Coulson had allegedly lied in December 2010, it was not. | Scots law sets a precise definition of perjury in criminal trials. Previous case law had found that any false testimony had to be relevant to the central prosecution case in the trial where that evidence was given, MacLeod asserted. And in the extraordinary trial where Coulson had allegedly lied in December 2010, it was not. |
| Until he was dramatically acquitted on Wednesday, Coulson had faced a string of charges of perjury, detailed over a three-page indictment, following his appearance as a defence witness in another perjury case against the Solidarity party leader and former MSP Tommy Sheridan. | Until he was dramatically acquitted on Wednesday, Coulson had faced a string of charges of perjury, detailed over a three-page indictment, following his appearance as a defence witness in another perjury case against the Solidarity party leader and former MSP Tommy Sheridan. |
| At the time of the Sheridan trial, Coulson was David Cameron’s director of communications at No 10. But in 2004 he had been the News of the World editor when the paper’s Scottish edition had published a series of sensational articles accusing Sheridan, then the popular, charismatic and married leader of the Scottish Socialist party, of conducting illicit affairs and visiting swingers’ clubs. | At the time of the Sheridan trial, Coulson was David Cameron’s director of communications at No 10. But in 2004 he had been the News of the World editor when the paper’s Scottish edition had published a series of sensational articles accusing Sheridan, then the popular, charismatic and married leader of the Scottish Socialist party, of conducting illicit affairs and visiting swingers’ clubs. |
| In 2006 Sheridan had sued the NoW, and, in a dramatic libel trial before a jury in Edinburgh – a few hundred metres from the high court where Coulson had been sitting – had won his case against the paper and £200,000 damages. | In 2006 Sheridan had sued the NoW, and, in a dramatic libel trial before a jury in Edinburgh – a few hundred metres from the high court where Coulson had been sitting – had won his case against the paper and £200,000 damages. |
| His victory, which contradicted apparently compelling evidence against him, sparked an immediate police investigation against numerous witnesses for perjury. In December 2007 Sheridan and his wife, Gail, who had gone on oath to provide him with alibis for key dates, were charged with lying under oath. | |
| By the time the Sheridans went on trial in October 2010, the News of the World was in turmoil. Following Goodman’s conviction for hacking phones belonging to members of the royal family in January 2007, over which Coulson had resigned, the Guardian’s Nick Davies had disclosed that hacking was systematic at the paper, and sanctioned by senior, if unnamed, executives. | |
| For Sheridan, that was crucial. He hoped to prove in his perjury trial that the NoW had used illegal methods such as hacking in an orchestrated smear campaign. | For Sheridan, that was crucial. He hoped to prove in his perjury trial that the NoW had used illegal methods such as hacking in an orchestrated smear campaign. |
| Sheridan had evidence. The Metropolitan police had found Sheridan’s mobile phone number and home address, and the addresses of his associates, written on several pages of notes by Glen Mulcaire, the NoW’s private investigator convicted for being at the centre of the hacking scandal. Sheridan’s mother, Alice, was also listed by Mulcaire. | Sheridan had evidence. The Metropolitan police had found Sheridan’s mobile phone number and home address, and the addresses of his associates, written on several pages of notes by Glen Mulcaire, the NoW’s private investigator convicted for being at the centre of the hacking scandal. Sheridan’s mother, Alice, was also listed by Mulcaire. |
| Coulson, by then Cameron’s chief spin doctor, was confronted with this ammunition by Sheridan, then conducting his own defence at the high court in Glasgow. Coulson insisted under oath that beyond the Goodman case, he had no knowledge of widespread hacking at the paper, had never heard of Mulcaire and was adamant that he never ordered or knew of phone hacking. | Coulson, by then Cameron’s chief spin doctor, was confronted with this ammunition by Sheridan, then conducting his own defence at the high court in Glasgow. Coulson insisted under oath that beyond the Goodman case, he had no knowledge of widespread hacking at the paper, had never heard of Mulcaire and was adamant that he never ordered or knew of phone hacking. |
| Coulson admitted he knew that Mulcaire’s company Nine Consultancy was contracted to the News of the World, but he told Sheridan: “I stress that I never met, heard of, emailed, spoke to Glenn Mulcaire prior to when the Clive Goodman affair started.” | |
| According to evidence given by Goodman in Edinburgh in the latest trial, Coulson did know of Mulcaire’s existence and had agreed to pay him £500 a week. Goodman said that he had had a meeting in Coulson’s office to discuss Mulcaire’s hacking techniques, and give him a codename, Alexander. | |
| Neville Thurlbeck, the paper’s former chief reporter who had pleaded guilty to hacking during Coulson’s Old Bailey trial last year, also told the court that Coulson – his former cell mate at Belmarsh prison – had seen transcripts of messages left by the former home secretary David Blunkett on a married woman’s voicemail that he knew had been obtained by phone hacking. Coulson admitted this in his first trial but has always denied knowledge of any other hacking. | Neville Thurlbeck, the paper’s former chief reporter who had pleaded guilty to hacking during Coulson’s Old Bailey trial last year, also told the court that Coulson – his former cell mate at Belmarsh prison – had seen transcripts of messages left by the former home secretary David Blunkett on a married woman’s voicemail that he knew had been obtained by phone hacking. Coulson admitted this in his first trial but has always denied knowledge of any other hacking. |
| And Weatherup, who pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to hack phones, told the trial: “Hacking phones was systematic at the News of the World. Andy would have known that Mulcaire was hacking phones.” | And Weatherup, who pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to hack phones, told the trial: “Hacking phones was systematic at the News of the World. Andy would have known that Mulcaire was hacking phones.” |
| While Gail Sheridan was cleared part way through their trial in 2010, Tommy Sheridan was convicted of perjury and later jailed. Yet despite his poised, cool performance in court, Coulson was unable to escape the continuing scandal at his old paper. | |
| As the wider controversy grew and began to make his life at No 10 untenable, he resigned from Cameron’s team in January 2011. And then, 10 months after the NoW was closed down by Rupert Murdoch, Coulson was himself arrested by Strathclyde police for perjury in the Sheridan trial, whisked early one morning in May 2012 to the high-security confines of Govan police station in Glasgow. | |
| But Coulson’s skilled advocate, MacLeod, challenged the crown case. With the jury absent, MacLeod told the judge, Lord Burns, there was no corroboration – the independent supporting evidence normally needed in Scottish trials – of the claims made against Coulson by Goodman, Weatherup and Thurlbeck. | |
| And the crown case had also failed the relevance test: Coulson’s testimony in Glasgow in December 2010 was irrelevant to the prosecution case at Sheridan’s trial, MacLeod argued. | |
| Sheridan was convicted at that time because former comrades in the Scottish Socialist party had witnessed him admitting the NoW allegations were true, and Sheridan had confessed too on a secretly recorded video made by a friend, George McNeilage – a video bought by the NoW for £200,000 after it had been first watched by Coulson in person. | Sheridan was convicted at that time because former comrades in the Scottish Socialist party had witnessed him admitting the NoW allegations were true, and Sheridan had confessed too on a secretly recorded video made by a friend, George McNeilage – a video bought by the NoW for £200,000 after it had been first watched by Coulson in person. |
| So any alleged hacking by the paper of Sheridan’s phone had nothing to do with proof of his guilt. | So any alleged hacking by the paper of Sheridan’s phone had nothing to do with proof of his guilt. |
| And, strikingly, the Crown Office failed to produce any evidence that hacking was relevant to the Sheridan case. While the prosecution and defence agreed there was no proof that Sheridan had actually been hacked, there was evidence that one of his former associates, Joan McAlpine, a Scottish National party MSP and former Sunday Times executive, had been. | And, strikingly, the Crown Office failed to produce any evidence that hacking was relevant to the Sheridan case. While the prosecution and defence agreed there was no proof that Sheridan had actually been hacked, there was evidence that one of his former associates, Joan McAlpine, a Scottish National party MSP and former Sunday Times executive, had been. |
| McAlpine was named and her mobile number listed alongside Sheridan’s in one set of Mulcaire’s notes – the notes produced by Sheridan during his trial. McAlpine herself revealed in May 2012 she had been the victim of “some sleazy hack” by the NoW in her Daily Record newspaper column, and she was named too in the Sheridan perjury trial as someone that NoW executives believed could help their investigations into his private life. | McAlpine was named and her mobile number listed alongside Sheridan’s in one set of Mulcaire’s notes – the notes produced by Sheridan during his trial. McAlpine herself revealed in May 2012 she had been the victim of “some sleazy hack” by the NoW in her Daily Record newspaper column, and she was named too in the Sheridan perjury trial as someone that NoW executives believed could help their investigations into his private life. |
| The prosecutors also failed to show Burns previous rulings by two judges involved in the Sheridan case, from the trial judge Lord Bracadale and from Lord Brailsford, who had issued rulings about pre-trial disclosure of NoW documents, that hacking evidence was both relevant and admissable. | The prosecutors also failed to show Burns previous rulings by two judges involved in the Sheridan case, from the trial judge Lord Bracadale and from Lord Brailsford, who had issued rulings about pre-trial disclosure of NoW documents, that hacking evidence was both relevant and admissable. |
| Knocking down protests during Sheridan’s trial from the prosecution about his questioning of another NoW witness, who cannot be named, Bracadale had ruled that Sheridan had “properly” raised the issue of hacking, using private detectives and bugging devices in his defence. “He is entitled to explore the extent to which such techniques of journalism are generally part of the armoury of the News of the World,” Bracadale told the advocate depute, Alex Prentice QC. | Knocking down protests during Sheridan’s trial from the prosecution about his questioning of another NoW witness, who cannot be named, Bracadale had ruled that Sheridan had “properly” raised the issue of hacking, using private detectives and bugging devices in his defence. “He is entitled to explore the extent to which such techniques of journalism are generally part of the armoury of the News of the World,” Bracadale told the advocate depute, Alex Prentice QC. |
| But that exposed one of the most significant conflicts and contradictions in the crown’s case against Coulson. In 2010, it had insisted Sheridan’s allegations and evidence that the NoW had used illegal methods against him were irrelevant. Now attempting to prosecute Coulson in 2015, it seemed unable or unwilling to imply that Sheridan might have been right. |