Andy Coulson charged in Tommy Sheridan trial perjury inquiry

Prime Minister David Cameron's former director of communications Andy Coulson has been arrested by police and charged with perjury. Mr Coulson, 44, has now been released, after being detained at his London home at 06:30 BST by Strathclyde Police. He arrived at a police station in Glasgow shortly before 15:30 BST. Mr Coulson was formally arrested on Wednesday evening as part of an investigation into evidence at the trial of former MSP Tommy Sheridan. He left the police station at 21.30 BST on Wednesday evening. A Crown Office spokesman said there was no legal obligation for Coulson to stay in Scotland, and he was free to return to his home in London. The spokesman said no date had been set for any court appearance. Earlier, a police spokeswoman said: "Officers from Strathclyde Police's Operation Rubicon team detained a 44-year-old man in London this morning under section 14 of the Criminal Procedure Scotland Act 1995 on suspicion of committing perjury before the High Court in Glasgow." Mr Coulson gave evidence at the perjury trial of former Scottish Socialist MSP Tommy Sheridan in 2010.

Sheridan was awarded £200,000 in damages from the News of the World in 2006 after it printed allegations that he had committed adultery and visited a swingers' club. After the court action, the former MSP and his wife Gail were charged with perjury. She was acquitted during the subsequent trial but Mr Sheridan was convicted in December 2010. He has since been freed after serving just over a year of a three-year sentence. Mr Coulson was called to give evidence at Sheridan's trial as he was editor of the News of the World between 2003 and 2007. During heated exchanges with Sheridan, who represented himself at the trial, Mr Coulson denied being involved in, or aware of, any illegal activities, including phone hacking. At the time of his two-day appearance, he was employed as Prime Minister David Cameron's director of communications. Mr Coulson resigned from that post in January 2011, saying coverage of the News of the World phone hacking scandal had "made it difficult to give the 110% needed in this role". In July 2011, he was arrested by Metropolitan Police investigating the News of the World hacking scandal and later released on bail.