TOMMY Sheridan has accused journalists at the now defunct News of the World of “doctoring” evidence to substantiate “false” claims that he was a swinger.

Mr Sheridan told judges Lady Paton, Lord Drummond Young and Lord McGhie that the paper used a number of illegal practices to get information on him.

The former MSP told the judges that employees of News Group News newspapers have pursued a conspiracy which resulted in him being wrongly jailed for three years.

Mr Sheridan, of Cardonald, Glasgow, told the Court of Session: “The current abuse of process extends to doctoring documents and they’ve been exposed to having stooped to pervert the course of justice.”

Mr Sheridan, of Cardonald, Glasgow, was speaking on Thursday during the third day of proceedings at the civil appeal court.

News Group Newspapers, the publishers of the now defunct Sunday newspaper, want the court to set aside the decision of a jury in August 2006 that Sheridan had been defamed by the publication.

Alastair Duncan QC, for News Group Newspapers, told the judges that Mr Sheridan’s perjury conviction showed that Mr Sheridan unfairly influenced the outcome of the defamation trial.