It is claimed Mr Sheridan attended a swingers’ club in Manchester A childhood friend of Tommy Sheridan has told a court that he went to a club in Manchester with the former MSP.
Gary Clark said he remembered the club showing pornography on TV screens. The jury earlier heard allegations that Mr Sheridan attended a swingers club.
The former Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) leader, and his wife Gail, both 46, are on trial accused of perjury.
They deny lying in Mr Sheridan’s successful defamation action against the News of the World in 2006.
Mr Sheridan won £200,000 in damages after the newspaper printed allegations about his private life, claiming he was an adulterer who had visited a swingers club.
Following a police investigation, the former MSP and his wife were charged with perjury.
“It was a wee bit more unusual than any other club I had been in before. There was pornography on the TVs around the club”
Gary Clark Witness
Giving evidence at the High Court in Glasgow on Monday, Mr Clark told how he got to know Mr Sheridan when they were growing up in the city’s Pollok area.
They lost touch after leaving school, but Mr Clark said he got back in contact while Mr Sheridan was in jail for “defending his principles”.
The pair renewed their friendship and socialised with their wives and other friends, including SSP members Keith Baldassara and George McNeilage.
Mr Clark told the court how his wife left him on his birthday on 13 September 2002.
He said he then “turned to alcohol” and was “particularly depressed” during what was “a low time” in his life.
The former footballer was asked by Prosecutor Alex Prentice if he had ever met Katrine Trolle – a previous witness who claims to have had an affair with Mr Sheridan.
Mr Clark said he had met her while driving in his car with Mr Sheridan, Andy McFarlane and Anvar Khan – a journalist who claimed she went to a swingers club with aN MSP.
Mr Clark said Mr Sheridan was behind the wheel in what was a “fairly long” journey to Manchester.
Asked where he went in the city, the witness replied: “Went to a club. I did not know what it was called at the time. I can recall arriving there, walking up the stairs and going in.”
Mr Clark said Mr Sheridan was with him when the group entered the club.
“Once we were in. It was a wee bit more unusual than any other club I had been in before,” he said.
“There was pornography on the TVs around the club.”
When Mr Clark was asked if he could recall anything unusual about the club, he said: “It was not showing Tom and Jerry on the TVs.”
It is alleged that Mr Sheridan made false statements as a witness in his defamation action against the News of the World on 21 July 2006.
He also denies another charge of attempting to persuade a witness to commit perjury shortly before the 23-day legal action got under way.
Mrs Sheridan denies making false statements on 31 July 2006, after being sworn in as a witness in the civil jury trial at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.
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