Tommy Sheridan witness denies 'relationship' with PC

A KEY witness at the trial of Tommy and Gail Sheridan has denied having an "inappropriate" relationship with a police officer investigating perjury allegations against them.

• Katrine Trolle and an investigating officer exchanged e-mails

Katrine Trolle, 36, who has alleged she had an affair with Sheridan and visited sex clubs with him, heard e-mails she exchanged with PC Grant Wilson, of Lothian and Borders Police, read out in court.

The trial was told Ms Trolle and PC Wilson were on first-name terms, that he had taken her coffee and muffins at a friend's house, and that she had given him her address in Denmark "just in case".

Former MSP and Scottish Socialist Party leader Sheridan, who is defending himself against perjury allegations after dismissing his barrister, also read out an e-mail sent by PC Wilson to a senior officer in which he expressed a willingness to travel to meet her to "get her for court or any other purposes".

Ms Trolle told the jury the officer never made any suggestions to her but she agreed his choice of phrase in the e-mail had lacked professionalism.

Under cross-examination by Sheridan at the High Court in Glasgow, she insisted that he could accuse her of being guilty of many things, but not of lying under oath. She swore that she and Sheridan had had sex on a number of occasions and added: "There is only one liar in this court, and it is you."

Sheridan and his wife, Gail, both 46, deny giving perjured evidence during a defamation action against the News of the World in 2006 when a jury awarded the former MSP 200,000 damages.

Ms Trolle, an occupational therapist who had joined the Scottish Socialist Party when she was a student in Aberdeen, said her relationship with PC Wilson, in the inquiry which followed the defamation case, had been fine.

Referring to the e-mails, Sheridan pointed out that some "have been deleted for some unknown reason".

He read one from Ms Trolle that said: "Hi Grant, good to see you this morning, especially since you brought coffee and muffins."

She said the officer had visited her by himself at the home of a friend, a journalist, in Glasgow. The friend had been present.

In the e-mail she had stated: "I might as well give you my Danish address too just in case."

Sheridan asked what she had meant by "just in case", but Ms Trolle said: "I don't know."

She said it would be for the officer, not her, to decide if it had been professional to meet at the home of a journalist.

In a later e-mail, Ms Trolle said she had plans for a year-long trip to Thailand, where she hoped to obtain a diving certificate, and to Australia, which she would tour by motorcycle.

"I will of course be contactable … or you could ask your boss to come see me in person if you need more interviews.I'm sure there is room for that on your budget," she had added.

Ms Trolle told Sheridan she was being ironic about the visit and the budget. She had signed off: "Hope you are enjoying yourself, have fun."

Sheridan suggested the e-mail, at the very least, appeared inappropriate.

Ms Trolle said: "I would not say inappropriate, just a bit …perhaps not professional. When I was writing this, it was not as a professional person, I was just being me."

Sheridan asked about an e-mail from PC Wilson to the senior investigating officer in the perjury inquiry. It had detailed Ms Trolle's travel plans and stated: "Heading to Thailand to get diving qualifications - no jokes please - then touring Australia."

Mr Wilson had added: "As I said, I'm available to go and get her for court or any other purposes…"

Sheridan asked Ms Trolle: "Did he suggest any other purposes to you?"

She replied: "No, never."

He also asked if it had been a professional standard of communication between two police officers? "No," said Ms Trolle.

Sheridan pointed to differences in detail between Ms Trolle's evidence in 2006 and in the current trial.

She responded: "You can call me guilty of getting my dates wrong and being naive and silly and thinking you had charisma, and I am guilty of having sex with you. Yes, I am guilty of all these things, but I am not guilty of lying in court."

She rejected his assertion that she did not care "who you hurt or who you destroy".

The trial continues.