The court sat again after lunch and Alex Prentice QC for the Crown resumed his examination of Alan McCombes (you can find an account of the morning session Here ) Mr Prentice gave the jury copies of the witnesses affidavit to the Sunday Herald newspaper and read it out in full. In the affidavit Mr McCombes states he had "consulted senior members of the party" before giving this legal statement. Mr McCombes told the court he had told Carolyn Leckie about his meeting with the Sunday Herald and that the SSP's press officer Eddie Truman had accompanied him. Mr Prentice then asked about a text Mr McCombes had planned to send to Carolyn Leckie which stated "Tommy will end up joining the Independents' [Independent MSP's in the Scottish Parliament] He said he meant this to be a private text and that he was concerned that Mr Sheridan was "acting independently of the party" and in particular discussed an event organised to support Rose Gentle (an anti-war campaigner) at which he had "excluded" the SSP's other members of parliament.
Mr Prentice then moved on to events around the 2006 libel case between Tommy Sheridan and the News of the World. Mr McCombes told the court about the SSP's "defiance" strategy and how he had went to Saughton prison in Edinburgh for three days rather than hand over the minutes of the "9/11" meeting. The witness told the court he had only given evidence in that case although he was "extremely unhappy' to do so. Mr McCombes stated that he thought the whole case was "disastrous" for the SSP" and added "as it proved to be."
The Advocate Depute then asked if Mr McCombes was a "friend of George McNeilage?" To which the witness responded that he was not a "close" friend. Mr McCombes was then asked if he had seen a video tape produced by Mr McNeilage, to which he replied he had seen it on the website of the News of the World. Mr Prentice then played a portion of the video (you can read an account of the tape Here ) and Mr McCombes identified the voices on the tape as those of Tommy Sheridan and George McNeilage. The witness was asked if he had prepared a "script" for this video, and idea Mr McCombes described as "preposterous" and if had written that he should be "hired to work on shameless" [the TV show] He also denied any suggestion he, or the SSP, had received any of the money from Mr McNeilage had received from the News of the World.
Finally Mr McCombes was shown the other minute the court has seen that purports to be of the "9/11" meeting (the "mystery minute" as Barbara Scott QC called it. Mr McCombes denied this was an accurate minute of that meeting and, with that, Mr Prentice thanked the witness for his evidence and returned to his seat. Mr Sheridan then began his cross-examination of the witness which we will report on later tonight.
18 comments:
Anyone who knows Tommy very well will know that Tommy actually speaks very posh in public with an almost kelvinside "clip", and he doesn't swear either.
posh in private lol
Aye he f@*$in' does.
If you listen to this "video" you would think that Tommy was speaking at a political hustings meeting, but it is supposedly shot in a private house. There is a world of difference to how Tommy the public persona acts and behaves and the private soft-spoken Tommy. It's really quite comical to listen to.
Really he comes across as a bitter and twisted Character indeed....didn’t TS split the money for the newspapers column he wrote r summat. I thought the SSP were into all that 50/50 stuff or is that something else that comes to mind..! And of course we have another SSP hack attempting to headline grab with apocalyptic & over the top statements like
"guaranteed to lead him to oblivion" "strapped into the back seat of a van heading for catastrophe " ‘the height of recklessness’." "gung ho"
And of course him being for a independent Scotland where no one shags around he as to have ago at the English. ‘"squeaky clean" and of being the "Daniel O'Donnell of Scottish politics" but had now revealed he was taking part in activities more suited to a "English premier league footballer’ err excuse me why not Scottish footballers or don’t they shag around......you would think the SSP curtain twichers would know a few footie stars up here putting it about .
Don't be daft Anon 9:15, scottish footballerd don't "shag around" lol, besides they wouldn't have the time what with bible class.... n stuff.
This trial is like watching a re-run of 12 Angry Men with TS playing Juror #8.
@'Henry Fonda': no, it really isn't, in any sense
Mcombes initially states that when he first heard that Tommy was the mystery MSP (via Boldersair) he did not want to make a 'moral judgement' against TC. In the next breath MCbs then goes onto make a very moralistic charge, when he compares TC alleged behaviour to that of a premier league footballer. Why that comparison? Who constructs this assumed behaviour of the 'premier league footballer?' and why do so called socialist such as McCombes et al swallow this image and not appear to actively challenge it? instead Mccombs used the analogy to benchmark TC behaviour by the 'image'?
This image as lived through the tabloids, is the single reason why not one out premier league footballer IMO. Even though the overwhelming majority of fans have would have no problem with a gay footballer playing in the premier.Although set up against this many remain in the closet risk the rath of the homophobic tabloids if they came out.
Justin Fashanu dared challenge this construct perpetuated by fools. He proudly came out after years of being in. Coincidently, Justin was offered twice the £1million he was given for his coming out story if he named and presumably shamed the 'Mystery MP' he had slept with.
Justin kept schtuumm!
RIP Justin Fashanu 1961 -1998.
The comment above about how TS normally talks in private is interesting - but does not necessarily throw any light on the genuineness of the tape.
In the tape he is allegedly talking about major catastrophic allegations - a extremely stressful situation whatever the truth of the allegations.
Any normally softly spoken person might be likely in such circumstances not to be exactly softly spoken. I have heard an elderly ( and religious ) relative utter completely unexpected expletives in an extreme situation.
oh my, Alan McCombes is contributing to the atmosphere that led to Justine Fashanu's suicide; this is a stretch.
It's well known that premier league footballers are involved in sex scandal after sex scandal; what stops gay and bi footballers coming out is the pervasive culture of homophobia/heteronormativity in society, not someone making an off hand remark like that.
It's hard to say, Bunc, we have all heard normally mild-mannered folk blowing their fuse, and whoever is in that tape does seem kind of wound up. It's also worth noting that TS has a young daughter at home - can you really imagine TS shouting and swearing like a trouper in that sitation?
It's well known that premier league footballers are involved in sex scandal after sex scandal;
Hey shug give us some examples of these sex scandals....say 5 proven cases over the last year. Or do you think you have been duped by the headlines of papers like the NOW & the Sun......!
If you canna this shows that you have been duped by papers like NOW & the SUN.
The point is that McCoombes like the other SSP hacks are just trying to grab headlines.Their strategy seems to be all about just playing to the media gallery.A media they would tell us us they hate.Yet here McCoombes and the rest are... trooping into court hand in hand with Murdochs NOW.Now that is a scandal.
@ wellinver With their off-the cuff lol sound-bites McCoombes et al could double as Scum headline writers: "Liar Hypocrite" and "Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire" lol
@Weelinever
- So the SSP hacks are playing to the media? - Unlike TS I suppose. He's a "good socialist" who would never resort to writing for a newspaper or expose himself to tabloid headlines by appearing on a cheap n nasty reality show would he?
Shug you seem intent on twisting my comments so they fit comfortably into your own narrow assumptions.
Just as Rosie Kane and Francis jumped to guessing "who" was the mystery SMP rather than question the very basis of such a story and what purpose it serves (believing the hype), is the same way McCombes jumped to the 'premier league' analogy, letting it dictate how Tommy would be seen by us "ordinary working class folk". Thing is these constructions only go so far with most folk who read them. Most do not swallow the headlines whole. Most of us are not suckered in hook line and sinker. Collective sceptism with the an always reactionary press comes with it's coverage of Hilsborough, Miners strike, Eddie Shah's Today Newspaper dispute, News International dispute, The Outing of Justin Fashanu etc., and how the headlines converge with our own reality of participation.
tabloid reactionary headlines serve a greater purpose for those wishing to strike political a advantage.
These headlines come as manoeuvres gifts to party hacks like Curran, Kane,Lekkie and McCombes et al. who cloak their manoeuvre in a patronising 'rescuing' of the class they have the front to believe they are speaking for . This is the essence of the McCombs 'premier league' analogy IMO.
The SSP witness's do seem to have a knack of generating tabloid headlines.
Bunc - Big Brother was a mistake, and you know that!
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