As Tommy Sheridan, disgraced former convener of the Scottish Socialist party, begins his three-year prison sentence for perjury, the women who gave evidence against him say the fight has been about sexism, not socialism; about women, not workers.

"The time has come to rid the left of male misogynists who view women as appendages," says former SSP MSP Rosie Kane. "Sheridan vilified the women in the party who refused to bow to him. Our lives have been devastated by his actions."

Kane, along with other female colleagues who talked to the Guardian, were at the fateful meeting in 2004 shortly after the News of the World published a story about an unnamed married MSP who had apparently twice attended swingers' club Cupids where he had indulged in group sex. Sheridan admitted he was the MSP in the story, and had, therefore, cheated on his wife, but asked those present to support him in suing the newspaper for libel. They refused to when it came to his 2006 libel case against the NOTW.

"We begged him not to," says Kane, "for the sake of the party, and because there are feminist principles involved."

But Sheridan refused to listen and the rest is history. Delivering his sentence on Wednesday the judge told Sheridan that he was responsible for what had happened, saying: "You were repeatedly warned by your comrades that it would come to this."

A number of women who used to call Sheridan comrade – among them Kane, Catriona Grant, Barbara Scott and Carolyn Leckie – gave evidence against their party convenor at the court case that ended this week.

"It is bad enough what he did to the SSP," says Kane. "But it truly sickens me that he used his wife as a human shield throughout this entire process, despite the fact that he was covering up his betrayal of her."

Sheridan once referred to himself as a "bit of a male whore," prior to marrying Gail, his childhood sweetheart, in 2000. Since the NOTW story broke, Gail has been steadfast in her support of Sheridan. During the libel trial and sentencing on Wednesday she looked adoringly at her husband, the very image of a loyal spouse. Other women have shown their adoration. On Christmas day a group of female fans blocked the media from driving down Sheridan's road so he and his family could celebrate in private, and one woman on his Facebook page said she was going to "hunt down" his detractors like "wild animals".

"Tommy had a harem of adoring female supporters, and because we merely thought of him as an equal colleague he couldn't cope," says Kane. "Tommy only has two ways to deal with women. If he can't fuck us, he will fuck us over." Sheridan has accused the women of being politically motivated in the past.

Scott was the SSP minutes secretary and was also present at that fateful meeting in 2004. "When it all started I could not have imagined how bad it would get. Tommy was prepared to risk his child losing both her parents to prison for his vanity. He blamed us women because we challenged him," she says. Gail Sheridan was charged and subsequently acquitted of perjury.

It is not only the wrath of Sheridan the SSP women have had to face, but also that of a number of men who insist those who gave evidence against him are part of a conspiracy. Some of the women, including Kane and Grant, have been verbally abused at meetings, as well as defamed on a number of blogs and websites. The attitude is: "He shagged a couple of birds. So what?" They were worried we wanted to take over the party and oust Tommy."

Katrine Trolle, a former SSP activist who had an affair with Sheridan between 2000 and 2004, was called as a witness at both the libel and criminal trials and cross-examined by him. (Sheridan represented himself on both occasions having sacked his QCs early on.)

Trolle, who has since moved back to her native Denmark, was in the witness box for three days at the perjury trail and found it deeply humiliating. She admitted to taking part in a threesome with Sheridan and his brother-in-law, visiting Cupids, and to having other sexual encounters with him.

"It was dreadful having that man standing in front of me telling so many lies, making out I was a pathological liar," says Trolle. "During our affair he presented himself as caring and sensitive. I was gullible and naive back then, but I now firmly believe he cares about no one but himself, including Gail."

According to Trolle, Sheridan cannot deal with women who challenge him. "We are supposed to adore him and fall at his feet, and protect him at all costs."

Leckie, an SSP MSP from 2003 to 2007, who also gave evidence against Sheridan at both trials, believes there is an inherent problem with men involved in leftwing politics that is hardly ever acknowledged. "Tommy's supporters think because he is on the left he has to be OK. Women flocking around him like disciples and men hero-worshipping and protecting him. Women are the cannon fodder in this war," she says.

What effect has the past seven years had on her? "The worst thing Tommy did to me was to steal my idealism. I am now totally cynical and trust hardly anyone," says Leckie.

Grant, the former women and equality spokesperson for the SSP, was at the meeting in 2004. She says that Sheridan decided his best form of attack was to pretend that a political plot by feminists was afoot. "Seemingly the women in the party wanted to get rid of him by means of a matriarchal coup. Sheridan found himself talking publicly about witches and dark arts."

Grant was accused of wanting to "expose him" – she effectively tried to "kill his unborn child and pregnant wife" – when she refused to lie for him in court. "Tommy called us 'scabs' in a national newspaper. Whenever we would go to meetings we would be shouted at and verbally abused by some male supporters," she says.

Gregor Gall, professor of industrial relations at the University of Hertfordshire, has been a member of the SSP for more than a decade and has written a biography of Sheridan to be published later this year. He says that Sheridan was treated "like a rock star" by female admirers and played on the fact that he was seen as a charismatic leader.

"I wouldn't go so far as to say he was predatory but things were more in his favour than the women. There were concerns about his behaviour when he was in Militant [prior to setting up the SSP] and complaints were made, but the leadership in London chose not to act on it. I suppose they didn't want to kill the goose that laid the golden egg."

For Leckie, the left in Scotland has more than Sheridan's downfall to worry about if it is going to ever recover. "The left now needs to incorporate feminism. The corrupt old patriarchal ways have got to end."

It is obvious that the women have all been badly affected by this drawn-out civil war. Do they have any regrets? "If we had stood behind Tommy with this, lied for him, we would never be free of the tyranny of sexism for generations," says Kane. "We would have been behind him, helping him become first minister, and younger socialists would have paid the price. If what we have done is root out this corruption, all we have been through has been worth it."

• This article was amended on 31 January and 1 February 2011 to restore Katrine Trolle's name and to correct an editing error. The original caption referred to former SSP members. This has been corrected.