Coulson detained over perjury allegations
Prime Minister David Cameron’s former spokesman has been detained on suspicion of committing perjury after he denied any knowledge of phone hacking by News of the World reporters in a court case in 2010.
Scotland’s Crown Office said on Wednesday that Andy Coulson had been held by police officers investigating allegations of perjury following his appearance before the High Court in Glasgow over a story that appeared in Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid when Coulson was editor.
Coulson, while he was working for Cameron, told the court that he had had no knowledge of illegal activities by reporters while he was editor.
Coulson resigned from the paper when his royal correspondent and a private investigator went to jail for hacking into phones in 2007. He denied any knowledge of the practice but said he took ultimate responsibility for the crime.
Months later he went on to work for Cameron, first in opposition and then in government, helping to craft Cameron’s strategy and communications.
He stood down from that job in January 2011 when police reopened the probe into phone hacking and has since been arrested.
Coulson was called to the Scottish court to answer questions over a front-page story on the News of the World about a Scottish socialist politician, Tommy Sheridan, who the paper accused of visiting a swingers’ club.