Tommy Sheridan trial witness 'had emails hacked by News of the World'

A former escort girl who gave evidence at the 2006 Tommy Sheridan defamation trial has been told that her computer was hacked by the News of the World.

Former escort girl Fiona McGuire told the original Sheridan defamation trial in 2006 that she had taken part in an orgy with the disgraced former MSP.

Her claims of an affair with ex-leader of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) were reported by the now defunct Sunday tabloid in 2004 and formed the basis of the libel trial Sheridan won two years later.

On Monday, Ms McGuire’s lawyer, who is representing her in a separate phone-hacking claim against News International, said Metropolitan Police officers leading Operation Tuleta investigating computer hacking the paper had shown him evidence that her personal emails had been intercepted and passed between senior staff at the tabloid in 2005.

Collyer Bristow solicitor Steven Heffer said: "I am acting for an individual who was a witness in the Sheridan libel trial. I have been shown evidence which indicates that my client's very personal emails may have been intercepted and passed between senior staff at The News of the World in Scotland in 2005.

"I am conscious that the matter is the subject of ongoing police investigations and cannot comment further for obvious reasons.

"Neither my client, who has not been named, nor my firm are able to make any further comment on this matter."

Sheridan was awarded £200,000 in the libel trial but was subsequently jailed for perjury for lying under oath during it. He was sentenced to three years in jail last January and was released around a year later.

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