Coulson cleared of perjury following "no case to answer" ruling

Andy Coulson. the former News of the World editor, has been acquitted of perjury while giving evidence at the trial of former MSP Tommy Sheridan in 2010.

Lord Burns, the trial judge, upheld a defence submission of no case to answer based on an argument that the Crown had not shown that the evidence challenged, about Mr Coulson's knowledge of phone hacking, was relevant to the trial.

The ruling was given on Monday but publication wuthheld while the Crown considered whether to appeal. It was confirmed today that no appeal would be taken.

Mr Coulson had denied lying while under oath. Speaking after the verdict he described the case as a "waste of money".

Explaining his decision to the jury, Lord Burns said the question of relevancy for him was "whether the alleged false evidence given by Mr Coulson in [the earlier trial] was relevant to the proof of Mr Sheridan’s perjury or relevant to Mr Coulson’s credibility as a witness in the perjury trial of Mr Sheridan".

He continued: "You will recall that Mr Coulson said in Mr Sheridan’s perjury trial that the person speaking on a video tape was Mr Sheridan. After two days of legal submissions last week and having considered the matter, I decided that the Crown had not led sufficient evidence to satisfy me that the allegedly false evidence was relevant to proof of the charge in Mr Sheridan’s trial or to Mr Coulson’s credibility at that trial."

Responding to the acquittal, a Crown Office spokesperson said: "Andrew Coulson was a defence witness at the trial of Tommy Sheridan. He gave his evidence without objection as to relevancy.

"The Crown indicted Coulson on the basis that he lied during parts of his evidence, in particular that he had no knowledge of phone hacking.

"The trial judge in the Coulson trial, at the conclusion of the prosecution evidence, ruled that this evidence was irrelevant and therefore could not found the basis for a prosecution for perjury. This brings proceedings to an end."