Andy Coulson arrested in perjury probe

LONDON, May 30 (UPI) -- Police investigating allegations of perjury in a Scottish court arrested Prime Minister David Cameron's first director of communications Wednesday.

Andy Coulson, the former editor of the defunct News of the World was a prominent witness at the 2010 perjury trial of Scottish Socialist party leader Tommy Sheridan, The Daily Telegraph reported Wednesday.

At that trial, Coulson denied overseeing a culture of illegal journalism as editor of the News of the World.

He also denied knowing anything about the phone-hacking scandal that brought down the newspaper.

Coulson was in charge of News of the World when a reporter and private detective were arrested and convicted of phone hacking. He subsequently stepped down from his post in January 2007 and was hired four months later to be the Conservative party's director of communications.

Coulson followed David Cameron to Downing Street after Cameron became prime minister in May 2010.