Ex-MSP Tommy Sheridan charged with perjury after dramatic police swoop on his home

The former Scottish Parliament member faces up to five years in jail if he is found guilty of perjury during his defamation case against the News of the World.

Sheridan, 43, is charged with lying to jurors over allegations about his sex life.

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Yesterday lunchtime he was bundled into an unmarked police car just minutes after finishing the weekly radio show he presents.

At the same time, his wife Gail was cautioned and effectively held under house arrest while officers searched the couple's Glasgow home.

The move marks the end of a 14-month investigation into contradictory evidence given by witnesses during the trial.

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Mr Sheridan denied the newspaper's claims that he had cheated on his wife, indulged in drug-fuelled orgies and visited a "swingers" sex club.

He seemed destined for defeat after a series of witnesses - including members of the Scottish Socialist Party, to which he belonged at the time - gave details of his alleged infidelities.

But jurors sided with Sheridan and the court awarded him £200,000 in damages.

Sheridan had been accused by the newspaper of making two trips to a sex club called Cupid's in Manchester in 1996 and 2002.

A host of witnesses made a series of other lurid allegations about his private life, including an affair with a former escort girl.

The testimony from defence and prosecution witnesses was so contradictory that the judge said one side in the case had been lying.

After the trial finished, prosecutors ordered police to carry out a criminal investigation into allegations of perjury.

The News of the World, which has yet to pay the damages and is appealing against the verdict, also unearthed a video that it passed to police. The tabloid claimed the footage showed Sheridan admitting he had visited Cupid's.

But the film was dismissed as a "concoction" by Sheridan, who claimed to be the victim of "sinister forces", such as MI5. During the trial three women claimed to have had affairs with the politician, all testifying he had taken part in group sex.

And three of his fellow party MSPs claimed that at a party meeting he had admitted visiting Cupid's.

Another two women claimed to have witnessed Sheridan taking part in group sex at a Glasgow hotel.

But he dismissed the allegations as "absolute nonsense" and produced his own witnesses to counter the claims.

Sheridan told jurors he would have been "an idiot" to cheat on his wife and accused the News of the World of "the mother of all stitchups".

It was the testimony of his wife that was thought by many to have been crucial to convincing the jury to side with Sheridan.

Last night, Sheridan's lawyer Aamar Anwar said: "Mr Sheridan maintains his innocence and condemns the excessive action of Lothian and Borders Police.

"The fact that they detained his wife in her home and came to his workplace is simply unacceptable."