[UA] Lord Archer

[Greg Stolze]

This is UAble somehow.  Not sure how, but I feels it...

>Lord Jeffrey Archer, the bestselling novelist and politician, was
>convicted yesterday in London of one count of perjury and three counts
>of "perverting the course of justice," in regards to his winning a 1987
>libel trial against the Daily Star newspaper. The paper had accused
>Archer of hiring a prostitute, but the author, whose novels have 100
>million copies in print, apparently used his vivid imagination to
>fabricate diaries and a fake alibi to secure a victory. Fourteen years
>later Archer's plot was undone when a former friend secretly taped
>conversations in which Archer admitted to falsifying the evidence for
>the trial. And just like the plot from one of Archer's own potboilers,
>the tapes were made public at the very moment Archer was gaining
>momentum in his campaign to become mayor of London.
>
>The judge sentenced Archer to four years in prison, with a minimum of
>two years, and fined him 175,000 pounds. As one London paper described
>it, he arrived in a chauffeur-driven Jaguar and left in a prison van. It
>also looks likely that the Daily Star will sue to have Archer repay the
>500,000 pounds he was awarded in the original 1987 case, as well as ask
>for damages and legal fees--an amount could rise to as much as 4 million
>pounds.
>
>Archer's arrogance is renown: prior to the trial, he was brash enough to
>stage a play called The Accused, dramatizing the trial and asking an
>audience to judge him. Many in London seem pleased with the verdict.
>
>Ironically, the media circus surrounding the trial has led to an upswing
>in sales for Archer's last two books, which had been lagging behind
>expectations. Archer's publisher HarperCollins reaffirmed that his
>prison term will in no way breach the three-book deal signed with the
>author last year.
>
>Archer's next book is expected in July 2003.--Edward Nawotka

-G.

"Lust and vengeance never tasted so sweet and non-threatening."
        -Polly Esther



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