Prime Minister David Cameron’s former communications chief Andy Coulson has been formally acquitted of lying under oath by the High Court in Edinburgh, three years after being charged with perjury.
Lord Burns threw the case against David Cameron’s former director of communications out of court, finding that the Scottish prosecutors had misunderstood the law on perjury.
Having considered whether to appeal after hearing of Burns’ decision on Monday, the Crown Office decided last night not to contest the decision.
Burns agreed with Coulson’s defence that the alleged lies under oath made as a witness during the 2010 perjury trial of Tommy Sheridan, former Scottish Socialist party leader, were not material to the main case. It therefore failed to meet the required definition of perjury.
All four people charged by Police Scotland for phone hacking and related cases, have now been cleared.
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