British police on Wednesday detained the former Scottish editor for the now-defunct News Corp. tabloid News of the World. Bob Bird, 56, is being questioned over allegations that he perverted the course of justice during the Tommy Sheridan defamation trial. Bird is the third senior News of the World employee to be questioned by police in Operation Rubicon, the Scottish police’s investigation into phone hacking and perjury. Sheridan, a Scottish Socialist politician, successfully sued the tabloid for defamation in 2006, only to be convicted in 2010 of committing perjury in that trial, although investigators say they are reassessing that verdict in light of the phone-hacking allegations.
