Sunday, October 29, 2006

MACCA EXCLUSIVE: Stella's bitter hatred for Heather

"I'LL KILL THE BITCH"

By Rav Singh and James Desborough

PAUL McCartney's daughter Stella threatened to KILL her hated stepmother in a blazing bust-up with her dad, we can reveal.

The fashion designer flew into a terrifying rage after hearing that Heather claimed Macca hit her mother Linda.

Pregnant Stella, 34, had to be restrained by the former Beatle as she screamed: "I'm going to kill that bitch! I can't believe what she's doing! I'm going to kill her!'"

It was clear she didn't mean it literally but she was beside herself after reading what Heather had said about Linda.

"I told you she was a bitch," she screamed. "Why did you marry her? She's been a manipulative cow from day one. The cow won't be happy until she destroys all of us — and our memories of our mother'."

Last week we revealed how Heather was the violent one in the collapsed marriage, smashing up rooms, hurling missiles and making threats against her husband.

Now we can reveal the full extent of Stella's bitter hatred of the woman who replaced her beloved mother. Our source revealed how:

# THE two women thrashed out an astonishing HATE PACT after the marriage so they would never have to talk to each other.

# STELLA is so disgusted by the blonde ex-model she compared her to a pile of VOMIT, calling her morning sickness "Heathering".

# ONLY weeks away from giving birth, Stella is under so much strain she has HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE, putting her pregnancy in jeopardy, and Sir Paul, 64, is drinking heavily.

# HIS marriage was in tatters TEN MONTHS ago — and when a desperate Sir Paul suggested marriage counselling, 38-year-old Heather REFUSED.

Stella's explosive rant happened during a meeting with her dad to discuss the divorce. "Paul kept pleading with her to calm down—but she couldn't," said a source close to the family.

"She wanted to go straight to see Heather, but he said, ‘You can't go anywhere in that state'. He had to stand in front of the door and stop her. He was pleading with her. It was a heartbreaking scene."

And it was the culmination of a resentment that had been bubbling since the day Macca announced he was going to marry the ex-model.

Our source told how a few weeks after the 2002 wedding, the rock legend got Stella and Heather together on a secret night out in London.

"He was adamant they should be one big happy family — he didn't realise how wrong he could be.

"From what Stella said to friends she told her stepmum she was a money-grabbing bitch and Heather hissed at her to mind her own business.

"The upshot of a very frosty evening was, ‘You keep out of my way, I'll keep out of yours'. It broke Paul's heart."

Stella's hatred only deepened as she watched the marriage crumble.

When she had morning sickness she gave it a nickname. "She called it Heathering. That's how bad it is," said our source.

"Heather is just vomit as far as she's concerned. But what she's doing to Stella's dad is really getting to her. Her blood pressure is very high, not something you need in the latter stages of a pregnancy."

Our source told how the marriage was in trouble from the start of this year.

"They were arguing over anything and Heather was taking it out on her staff. Once she reduced their gardener to tears because she didn't like the way he'd cut the flowers.

"Paul would spend more and more time at Stella's and would be constantly on the phone to her when he was at home.

"He would say, ‘I just don't know what to do any more. I love her but she's become this horrible woman.'

"Stella would get so upset listening to her dad she once said, ‘I don't want to bring my child into this world with her as a grandmother. She's a bitch from hell'."

In May, Macca suggested marriage counselling in a last-ditch attempt to save their marriage, said our source. But she flatly refused. "She told him he was the problem and if he sorted himself out it would all be fine," said our source. "This was the last straw for Paul who started drinking heavily. Stella grew more and more concerned.

"It was at this point Stella noticed Heather would carry a black Prada bag with her and Paul said she'd always leave it in the middle of the table. They now believe it had a tape recorder in it." Stella never saw them fighting — but did once walk in after they had a bust-up over Heather's spending.

A source close to Stella said: "She told me Paul was close to tears.

"Heather had been spending far too much on clothes and they had a huge row with Paul telling her to cut down.

"She would buy bags of outfits and wear dresses only once. It was like she had won the lottery. Paul really loved her and would do anything for her but it was just take, take, take."

The one good thing from the marriage collapse is that it has drawn the McCartneys together again as a family. Macca has seen much more of Linda's daughter Heather, 43, who stayed away from his Peasmarsh home throughout his new marriage.

"It was a huge surprise for loads of staff when Heather turned up at the house to see her stepdad," said our source.

"She'd not visited for four years. The same applies to Mary and James, his other kids.

"Paul would have to go to see them rather than them coming home. In the last few months that's changed. They're united against Heather."

Sunday, October 22, 2006

MACCA BITES BACK

By James Desborough

Shattered Paul McCartney plans to unleash damning evidence in his bitter divorce battle with Heather Mills.

Hurt by her leaked court papers claiming he was a violent, drug-taking drunk, Macca has enough ammunition to destroy the beauty's lies — and prove that it was HER who was the violent nightmare in their four-year marriage.

In our exclusive coverage, you can also read:

PAUL'S LOYAL AIDE ON HEATHER'S 'LIES'

HEATHER'S FATHER THINKS SHE'S 'MAD'

For the first time since the showbiz divorce of the century started, one of Sir Paul's aides has broken ranks to tell the News of the World how Heather:

# SMASHED up chairs and threw ornaments at the singer in screaming rows at their Peasmarsh home.

# HURLED a bottle of ketchup at him during one blazing hour-long bust-up over dinner.

# RANTED at him constantly in front of staff, branding him "old man", and a "b*stard".

# SPAT out her chilling threat to ruin him in a car-park showdown, yelling: "I'm absolutely gonna take you to the cleaners."

# DEMANDED Sir Paul use his millions to buy a string of homes.

# LONGED to have her own chat show—and FANTASISED about becoming the new Posh.

# DESERTED bewildered Macca for weeks at a time leaving him to look after toddler Beatrice.

The aide's revelations come as Macca's former loyal PR man Geoff Baker — sacked by the star because of his suspicions about Heather — also blasts holes through the blonde's accusations.
Screaming

Our insider — who does not want to be named — told us: "For Paul the gloves are really off now, and he's ready to trash her in court.

"He refutes her lies and is is preparing to detail HER appalling behaviour. The staff have seen it all — and we reckon he's a saint for putting up with her as long as he did.

"Paul spent millions of pounds on her — but she never appreciated it. She became like Andy from Little Britain —‘I want that one, I want that one — wherever she went. If he turned her down she just let rip at him."

The aide said staff often witnessed fights between the two at the 64-year-old former Beatle's 160-acre estate in Sussex. They heard the couple screaming at each other, and furniture being wrecked in the living and dining rooms and kitchen from September 2003 — a month before Beatrice was born.

Our source said: "It was Heather who caused all the rows by constantly nagging Paul, and they turned violent. Her face would go red with rage.

"I have seen her slam doors in his face, and when he followed her into a room there would be crashing, banging and smashing.

"You could hear what was happening, and it sounded like Heather was the one doing the attacking. Chairs were smashed as well as ornaments. Then the housekeeper would have to come in and clean up afterwards.

"There was at least one of these a month and we'd all walk around with our tin hats on."

Staff dubbed the most vicious fight the "ketchup battle" in September 2003.

"One of the cleaners said it was like a tornado had hit the living room. Vegetarian food was all over the floor, lamps were smashed, crockery, cutlery and glasses were broken.

"But on the wall there were the marks where a bottle of ketchup had been thrown and landed just behind where Paul usually sits. It must have just missed him.

"They had to get special cleaners to clear up the mess. A very expensive carpet was ruined and had to be chucked out.

"This argument was the most talked about, but not the last. Those cleaners visited the house at least five times a year from then on after big rows between them.

"Paul always tried to keep his rows away from the staff, but you couldn't fail to hear Heather screaming. We all knew it was another humdinger and to keep our heads down."

Macca's aides also witnessed a terrifying row in the car park close to their main home on the estate last summer.

"After they pulled up in his Mercedes she leapt out of the car waving her hands at him and screaming, ‘If you wanna get rid of me, do you know how much it is gonna cost you? Do you know how much you stand to lose? I'm absolutely gonna take you to the cleaners'."

Staff believe that was the row which brought home to Sir Paul what a mess he was in. They had known for a long time — and had themselves been on the rough end of her tongue too often.

"She was called the Ice Queen behind her back," said the aide. "She was often rude to us. We all felt that she saw us as slaves."

Slaving

And she reckoned her husband wasn't slaving hard enough to make her a star. Once, when he tried to stop her haranguing him about her potential TV career at the swish Hilden Health Club in Rye, staff heard her rant: "You're an old man.

"You b***tard, don't you care anymore? Don't you love me? I've given you a baby — is this how you repay me?"

The source continued: "Many rows came out of Heather's hopes to make it big on TV. In summer 2004 she was even begging Paul to help her get her own chat show.

"I remember her saying, ‘I want a chat show on my own, everyone else is doing it — why can't I have one?'

Dozens of rows were fuelled by Heather's desire to turn her and rocker Paul into an older version of Posh and Becks.

"Heather dreamt of living like the Beckhams. She wanted that showbiz lifestyle," said our source.

"She desperately wanted to do photo shoots in glossy mags. She kept asking, ‘Why can't we do that. Why are they in there and we're not?'"

She made up for what she saw as her lack of fame by trying to spend like a billionaire. In one heated phone call in March, Paul appealed to his wife to stop demanding he buy more homes, said our source.

"He asked her, ‘How much have you got to have before enough is enough?'"

Troublemaker Heather, 38, would leave the family home for weeks at a time after bitter bust-ups from the summer of 2004 — often going to her home in Brighton.

"She'd just suddenly up sticks, jump in her Porsche and disappear. Then they didn't see each other for a week or even two and he was left with the baby. Two weeks was the longest she stayed away.

"It was always up to Paul to make up, and get his wife back. While she was away he would always say they had a clash of diaries — but to us that was the codeword for they'd fallen out and she'd gone off."

Paul would be left to look after Beatrice. "This is where we all think Heather shoots herself in the foot," said our source.

"In her court papers she alleges Paul is a drunk and drug user, yet she's quite happy to leave the baby with him for a week while she goes off to America at short notice."

Macca's aides believe Heather's divorce paper accusations were a move to prompt him into handing her a whopping payout.

"When he saw those claims Paul was absolutely devastated," added the insider.

"He's still in complete disbelief at what she's said and is going to fight her tooth and nail.

"He's tried to call her but we're told she won't pick up the phone. It's crazy because we all expected an out of court settlement was close to being agreed. Now she's pushing for half of everything or holding out for £200m.

"Paul wants this done and dusted, he wants this dealt with so he can get on with his life and back to normality.

"He doesn't want a slagging match in court or in the media."

However the confidante did claim Macca will bring up Mill's past as a porn model and hooker — revealed by the News of the World — in court.

"Quite simply for Paul the gloves are well and truly off. He will bring up her past life and could take this divorce into a whole new direction." Paul's aide is confident his boss will prove himself innocent of Heather's claims.

"She is living in the realms of fantasy. Many of us have known Paul for more than 20 years and he's not a violent human being.

"I've never seen him drunk with Beatrice and if he has a spliff he becomes your best mate, rather than wants to kill you.

"There are many members of his staff, band and entourage who will testify to that. Heather should be the one doing the worrying."

Sunday, October 15, 2006

ROM FACES £5.5bn DIVORCE BATTLE

By Neil McLeod

SOCCER billionaire Roman Abramovich faces the biggest divorce payout in history as his marriage hits the rocks.

The News of the World can reveal that the Chelsea tycoon's wife Irina has called in top lawyers following his close friendship with beauty Daria Zhokova, 23.

Last week Abramovich, 40, failed to get a court injuction to stop us exposing the relationship - now he stands to lose HALF his £11 billion fortune.

Irina has called on two of Britain's toughest divorce lawyers — nicknamed Jaws and Mr Payout — in a bombshell move that follows months of marital misery.

If she wins a £5.5 billion settlement from the Chelsea owner it would dwarf the world's current record divorce payout of £1 billion.

One insider said last night: "It simply is too big to comprehend. There are oceans of cash to be split, companies, yachts, homes and cars.

"This could be the divorce battle to end all divorce battles."

We can reveal that Irina, 39, the mother of Rom's five children, has called in lawyers Sears Tooth, one of the country's leading divorce firms.

They acted for Cheryl Barrymore in her split from comic Michael and for Sadie Frost in her break-up with Hollywood actor Jude Law.

Irina has kept several appointments at their London offices over the past two weeks.

Boss Raymond Tooth, known as Jaws in the legal trade because of his fearsome reputation, saw her personally.

She instructed the firm to take her case past the talking stage and they have already appointed one of Britain's leading divorce barristers to handle the case if it goes to court.

Slick QC Nicholas Mostyn, 49, is known as Mr Payout because of his amazing success rate — including winning £4 million for former England star Ray Parlour's wife Karen.

The £500-an-hour court showman has also been drafted into Sir Paul McCartney's team in his divorce fight against Heather Mills.

Despite being driven in a limo and guarded by ex-SAS bodyguards, Irina was able to visit the Park Lane offices of Sears Tooth without fuss.

Her visits have come to light following our revelations last week about her husband and beautiful brunette Daria Zhukova, 17 years his junior. Abramovich tried to gag us with a High Court injunction but failed.

A source revealed last night: "They were kept very hush hush. She met with Raymond Tooth, the top man in the whole company and he will be over-seeing her business personally. Some clients can get handed down to other partners, but not a lady who can lay claim to part of £11bn.

"Irina is tough and means business. Things have gone well beyond the stage of making a simple enquiry.

"It will obviously be a massively complicated case as Abramovich has dozens upon dozens of businesses, accounts, holdings and funds."

For months the Chelsea boss has rarely been seen with his wife and has been jetting all over the world for meetings with stunning model Daria. Another source said: "The Abramovich marriage has been suffering for some time now. They have struggled to keep it under wraps but many people have noticed.

"They live pretty much separate lives. She has long been frustrated by his devotion to his business interests and football, now she has to contend with his close relationship with another woman.

"He does a lot of globe-trotting — but she cannot follow him everywhere he goes because she, not a team of nannies, looks after their children.

"There is more to the marriage split than just Roman's relationship with Daria. In truth, Irina was seeking to do something about the marriage long before news of that relationship broke.

"But now it has, it will be very difficult for her to turn back. It is sad but it seems this really is irreversible."

Abramovich, who bought Chelsea for £140 million three years ago, started out as a penniless orphan and is now the world's 11th richest man. His wealth in cash alone is estimated at £8 billion.

As for homes, his collection of mansions is his pride and joy.

He owns the £18 million, 420-acre Fyning Hill Estate in West Sussex, a £29 million penthouse in Kensington, and the £15 million former home of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Chateaux de la Croe in France.

He has an £11 million five-storey listed house in Belgravia, an £18 million six-storey mansion in Knightsbridge, a £10 million pad in St Tropez and a 104-acre estate near Moscow worth £8 million.

He once ordered a £4 million extension at Fyning Hill to be knocked down because it was too small, and told builders to put up a £5 million replacement.

Then there is the fleet of ships. Flagship is the £72 million Pelorus, which has bulletproof glass and its own submarine.

Another, the Ecstasea, is also worth £72 million. It has its own pool and Turkish bath.

A third cruiser, Le Grand Blue, cost a modest £60 millon and has its own helipad. It is used mainly for staff. A fourth "gigayacht" worth £100 million is under construction.

He also has his own aircraft — a £56 million Boeing 767, a £28 million Boeing Business jet, and two helicopters worth £35 million.

He has a fleet of cars and spent £1 million on two made-to-order versions of the world's most exclusive car, the Maybach 62, for him and his wife.

One of Irina's first tasks, as with any divorce, will be to list all of her husband's wealth.

But Abramovich — who rarely gives interviews and remains a man of mystery — may not want his business dealings revealed in court.

Our source said: "The whole thing may simply be too complicated for him to want to get involved in and an out-of-court settlement could be the best way to go."

Irina, who became his second wife in 1991, met the tycoon when he was so poor he couldn't afford a beefburger. She was his rock as his empire grew and they had five children, now aged between three and 13.

She is close pals with former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell and has been decribed as a "frenetic shopper" who loves Prada, Gucci and Armani — with London's Sloane Street said to be "the centre of her universe."

Sunday, October 08, 2006

LIAR: Week Two of our Tommy Sheridan sensation

By Euan McColm

LAST week we promised you further damning revelations that prove Tommy Sheridan is a liar, an adulterer and a hypocrite and - unlike the Scots sleazeball - we are true to our word.

Now we can expose another HUGE lie told in court by two-faced Sheridan. The News of the World's dynamite 40-minute video reveals that the shamed politician DID go to a swingers' club with Danish beauty Katrine Trolle.

And his confession undoubtedly means the ex-Scottish Socialist Party leader's snivelling denials that he enjoyed threesomes with her and romped with her in his wife's bed are also brazen lies.

It proves beyond any doubt that the MSP committed PERJURY during his libel case against the News of the World AND pulled the wool over the jury's eyes to win his record £200,000 payout.

Hours after we published our first excerpts last Sunday, police launched a criminal probe which could send Sheridan and four colleagues who backed his story in court to jail.

Now - in the second instalment of our tape - when quizzed by close pal George McNeilage about Cupids sex club in Manchester, sleazy Sheridan confirms that 31-year-old Katrine went with him and his brother-in-law Andy McFarlane.

But the foul-mouthed MSP says: "She's a f*****g diamond...she'll never admit anything like that."

HE WAS WRONG.

  • Stunning Katrine's bombshell confession
  • Proof that the voice on our tape IS Sheridan's
  • FOUR more clues that blow his 'fake tape' claim out of the water
  • His former pal George McNeilage brand him 'bonkers'


  • To view this week's video select one of the links below:

    Windows Media Player: Low quality High quality

    Real Media Player: Low quality High quality

    VOICE OVER: Last week we exclusively published tapes which proved that MSP Tommy Sheridan conned the jury at his libel trial against the News of the World. Sheridan won the case….and £200,000 in damages. No we exclusively reveal even more damning evidence against him…..

    The MSP told a court that he had not visited a swingers club – and that he had not admitted this to a meeting of the SSP’s Executive Committee.

    But during a secretly videoed meeting in November 2004 with George McNeilage – a best man at Sheridan’s wedding – the politician confessed all.

    He admitted that he had been to the club – and that he had been unfaithful to his wife with News of the World columnist Anvar Khan and SSP activist Katrine Trolle. Sheridan told McNeilage that SSP official Duncan Rowan had informed the News of the World about his affair with Katrine – but insisted she would not speak up about her trip to Cupids with the politician and his brother in law Andy McFarlane.

    In this clip, Sheridan begins by referring to Duncan Rowan…

    SHERIDAN: Goes to, goes to the News of the World and fires in Katrine Trolle’s name.

    MCNEILAGE: That’s the lassie..

    SHERIDAN: That’s the lassie from Dundee, right.

    MCNEILAGE: Her that was in Cupids with f****** you and f****** Andy?

    SHERIDAN: Absolutely. Absolutely. He goes and fires..I don’t know.

    MCNEILAGE: (Inaudible) she said I’m f****** flattered and all that.

    SHERIDAN: Katrine. Katrine is solid. Katrine is f******.

    MCNEILAGE: She’ll never admit it.

    SHERIDAN: she’ll never admit.

    MCNEILAGE: Nae money

    SHERIDAN: Never. She’s not interested in money. She’s a f****** diamond. She’ll never admit anything like that. Not a f****** problem. What p***** me off is a comrade goes and sticks in another comrade: to the News of the World.

    VOICE OVER: Sheridan went on to say he regretted telling colleagues about his swinging shame.

    SHERIDAN: That just finished me. I’ve then got Leckie, Catriona Grant, there saying have you been to lap dancing clubs? Have you paid for prostitutes? Have you did this? Have you had an affair with this Fiona McGuire? George, I’m telling, I’ve told the story and I wish I hadnae.

    VOICE OVER: SHERIDAN told how he lied to a journalist who asked why he had stepped down as SSP chief. The MSP bragged that he had lied saying he was quitting to spend time with wife Gail and their child, due to be born in 2005.

    SHERIDAN: So I then have to say to him look that’s just p***. You’ve got the wrong end of the stick. What’s happened is I’ve f****** resigned. I’m having to face up to a new chapter in my life. I don’t have a clue. I’m nervous about being a father. I’m going to have to f****** work at it. We’re a one man band, according to all you, but now we’ll prove we’re no’ a one man...so I’ve put a positive f****** spin on it and that’s also a big mistake, right, because what’s happened, George, is I’ve done too well. I’ve actually f****** put a..I’ve put a very good spin on it. I’ve f****** come out fighting with it and it was a believable story. It was far fetched, perhaps, to some people but it was a believe...all the circumstances were there. The nominations have opened. Tommy’s wife’s pregnant, everybody knows that. Eh, Tommy’s 40 years of age. Everybody thinks the party’s a one man band, so it’s there, we’ve got a package. Thursday morning, I go in and I f****** give it full barrels. all sorts of wee questions about my personal life.bang bang bang I’ve dealt with it, George. I’ve f****** dealt with it and now I’m free.

    Sunday, October 01, 2006

    EXCLUSIVE: The secret tape proving Tommy Sheridan lied

    By Euan McColm

    CHEATING Tommy Sheridan can now be exposed once and for all as a LIAR, an ADULTERER and a HYPOCRITE.

    The ex-Scottish Socialist Party leader condemns himself in his OWN words in an explosive 40-minute video tape.

    The recording was made in secret by George McNeilage, best man at the left-wing firebrand's wedding to wife Gail, 42.

    And it proves beyond any doubt that the MSP committed PERJURY during his libel case against the News of the World AND pulled the wool over the jury's eyes to win his record £200,000 payout.

    Now you can read:
    # the full transcript of the tape
    # the lies that damn him
    # and the reason George McNeilage is mad with his former friend.

    NOW HEAR HIM CONFESS ALL - CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO SHOCK TAPE

    On the tape, the 42-year-old perma-tanned politician admits that he:

    # VISITED Cupids swingers' club on at least two occasions
    # DID go to the seedy Manchester sex den with News of the World columnist Anvar Khan, and
    # CONFESSED to a meeting of the SSP executive on November 9, 2004 that he had been there.

    During the sensational five-week trial at Edinburgh's Court Of Session — which ended in August with Sheridan being awarded £200,000 in damages — he insisted that he had NEVER visited Cupids.

    He also told the court he had NEVER been there for sex sessions with Anvar.

    He maintained that he had NEVER slept with her since they dated in 1992.

    Sleazy

    And he told the jury that he had NEVER confessed to that crunch SSP summit that he had attended the swingers' club.

    The bombshell tape is the most explosive piece of evidence in the history of Scottish defamation trials.

    It could send Sheridan to jail for perjury — and it is crucial in the police investigation into four of Sheridan's colleagues in the SSP who swore blind to judge and jury that he had never confessed his sleazy secrets to the executive meeting.

    If they are found guilty, then party MSP Rosemary Byrne and SSP officials Graeme McIver, Pat Smith and Jock Penman could all be facing a jail sentence in high-profile cases that would cut a huge swathe through Scottish politics.

    In his conversation with McNeilage, the TRUTH comes out and contradicts what Sheridan would say as he conducted his own defence in the Court of Session just two months ago.

    One of the pivotal points of the trial came when he denied he had been confronted by the SSP's policy chief Alan McCombes about being a swinger: "No, it's not accurate. It's nonsense," he maintained.

    But on tape he admits he told McCombes: "Look, stupid, shouldnae have done it. Done it once before in '96 and went back in 2002. And cheap thrill but it's been done and that's it."

    Emergency

    McNeilage recorded his conversation with Sheridan on a camcorder hidden beneath some tiles while he was decorating the front room of his home in the Pollok area of Glasgow.

    He didn't release it at the time because he was certain his old friend would lose his court case and the evidence wouldn't be needed.

    Sheridan, a member of the Scottish Parliament who describes fellow MSPs and party colleagues as c***s during the talk, visited McNeilage days after an emergency meeting of the SSP forced him to quit as the party's convener as the row about his private life erupted.

    The trial, which began in July, was still some time away. But the issues raised in court are already on his mind.

    On the tape, Sheridan is seen walking in front of the camera before sitting down. He can then be heard clearly talking to McNeilage.

    His damning words can be read in the transcript. But amongst the most serious threats to his marriage and his future freedom is the cynical way he uses columnist Anvar Khan.

    Sheridan tells how SSP policy chief Alan McCombes called him in October 2004 as soon as McCombes had seen the revelations from Anvar's book Pretty Wild printed in our paper.

    In our story, which did not identify the politician, Anvar, 39, admitted having an affair with an unmarried MSP and visiting a swingers' club with him. In the book, her lover's identity is hidden behind false details — and when it was suggested in court that Sheridan was that man, he said with bravado: "That's a downright lie."

    Public

    Yet on the tape, Sheridan explains: "Alan (McCombes) comes on the phone saying, ‘Is this you?' I said, ‘Of course it is'."

    Sheridan then carefully calculates that a public ‘confession' that he had slept with Khan BEFORE starting his relationship with wife Gail would help him to cover up allegations that the relationship carried on AFTER the marriage.

    He says on the video: "There's been a few sessions...which is in certain respects my saving grace because if there's any story about what she knows about my personal habits or if she knows about I've got a hairy back or a hairy a**e, of course she does because she f***ing sha**ed me and I've admitted that.

    "That's out in the open. That's a matter of public record."

    The admission will stun Sheridan's wife. Gail was a potent force in the courtroom and drew smiles from the jury when Sheridan asked her if she would have given evidence if she believed the accusations against him.

    Gail replied: "There's no way I'd be here. Neither would you.

    "You'd be in the Clyde with a piece of concrete tied round you and I'd be in court for your murder."

    Millions of TV viewers will remember her by his side as he strode out of court, punching the air and crowing to his army of supporters.

    In court, Sheridan also denied having a series of steamy romps with former escort girl Fiona McGuire, and insisted that he had NOT been unfaithful to ex-air hostess Gail with party activist Katrine Trolle.

    And central to the case was, of course, his denial that he had ever admitted visiting Cupids to his party's executive committee.

    Deceit

    Indeed, 11 members of the party who were there that night — and testified in court that he had confessed — were made to sound like liars as Sheridan conducted a bravura performance of deceit.

    But explaining to McNeilage how he was called to the meeting, Sheridan says unguardedly: "I then make the biggest mistake of my life by confessing something in front of 19 f***ers...what am I doing confessing in front of these c***s?"

    The MSP also told McNeilage that he was angry about former pal Keith Baldassara's refusal to contact him as details of his sordid private life began to emerge. He said: "I love Keith to bits and he's not phoned me once."

    McNeilage responded: "I think he's p****d off, Tam. Do you know how? I think he's p****d off because everything's now all surfacing, everything's now all surfacing that we f*****g warned you about f*****g years ago, right?" Sheridan answers: "Fine fine."

    Last night McNeilage told us: "I recorded the tape as Tommy was already starting to spin the truth about what really happened at the SSP meeting on November 9, 2004.

    "I grew up with Tommy, went on picket lines with him, was arrested with him at demos. But he's ended up betraying everyone."

    He added: "People need to know the truth about Tommy."

    When we confronted Sheridan at his Glasgow home last night, he raged: "You're liars and everyone knows you're liars."