Solidarity maintains that the ongoing perjury investigation into Tommy Sheridan and others who've been questioned and subsequently charged this week, is part of a political witch-hunt being carried out at the behest of Rupert Murdoch's News International Corporation and a Scottish legal establishment left reeling by Sheridan's victory in his High Court defamation case in the summer of 2006.

The only crime that Tommy Sheridan is guilty of is the crime of speaking truth to power. His is a political reputation built upon an unwavering commitment to speaking out on behalf of the most vulnerable and oppressed in society. He has and continues to speak out against the scourges of low pay, poverty, racism, war and inequality in all its forms - in short, against everything Rupert Murdoch and his vast media empire represents.

The resources allocated to this investigation thus far, both in terms of public money and police manpower, constitutes grounds for a public inquiry. Reports have suggested that over £1million pounds will have been spent by the time this investigation reaches its end. This is an amount that far exceeds the £750,000 spent on the recent 'cash for peerages' investigation into corruption at the heart of the British Government. As for manpower, recent news reports have stated that over twenty officers have been working on this investigation full time for over a year. Given that Lothian and Borders Police currently holds the onerous distinction of the worst record of any police force in the country when it comes to successfully investigating cases involving rape, the public has a right to know how they can afford such an allocation of manpower into matters arising from a civil defamation case.

We are asking all supporters to bombard Lothian and Borders Chief Constable David Strang with complaints regarding the decision to deploy nine police officers to Tommy and Gail Sheridan’s home on Sunday 16^th December. Moreover, to detain Gail Sheridan for 8 hours while carrying out a search of their home was heavy-handed in the extreme and a scandalous waste of resources. Is it the operational policy of Lothian and Borders police to use nine officers to detain a women and two-year old child while searching a house in all criminal investigations, for example murder?   

We should also make clear our disgust at the use of hundreds of thousands of pounds of public resources and thousands of hours of police officers time to conduct this enquiry at a time when Lothian and Borders police force have a shocking conviction rate last year of only 1.4% for rape cases in their region.

Lothian and Borders Police
Force Headquarters, Fettes Avenue
EDINBURGH, EH4 1RB.
(e) enquiries @ lbp.pnn.police.uk
 Tel. No. 0131 311-3131 Fax. No. 0131 440 6889

Model email/letter of protest