Disgraced British politician and best-selling novelist Jeffrey Archer has been jailed for four years after he was found guilty of perjury and perverting the course of justice today.
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He was found guilty and sentenced at London's Old Bailey court today.
Before sentencing him the Mr Justice Potts told Archer: "These charges represent as serious an offence of perjury as I have had experience of and have been able to find in the books."
The jury took 23 hours and 39 minutes to reach its unanimous verdicts on each count.
Archer's legal representative says he will appeal the convictions.
The flamboyant Archer, a peer in the House of Lords, was convicted of three charges of perverting the course of justice and one of perjury over a 1987 libel case that centred around allegations he had sex with a prostitute. He was acquitted of one charge of perjury.
Archer, who had pleaded not guilty to all charges, was accused of lying and creating false diaries to win £500,000 sterling in libel damages from the Daily Starnewspaper in 1987.He took the tabloid to court after it alleged that he paid prostitute Ms Monica Coghlan for sex in September 1986.
The prosecution said he faked two diaries he presented during the libel trial to back up a false alibi that he was elsewhere on the night in question.
Archer (61) whose mother died during the trial, did not take the stand in his own defence during the six-week hearing. But wife Mary, who was in court daily to support her husband, provided some of the most dramatic moments of the trial when she gave evidence on his behalf.
She strongly refuted evidence from Archer's former secretary, Ms Angela Peppiatt, that the couple led separate lives, saying the claims were complete and utter nonsense.
Ms Peppiatt had earlier told the court Archer produced a brand new diary as he prepared his 1987 libel case and told her to fill it in from a hand written-note he gave her.
She also said Archer had a long-running affair with his former personal assistant Ms Andrina Colquhoun and often asked her to buy expensive presents for his girlfriends.
Archer was brought to trial as the result of a chain of events put into motion when he decided to run as the Conservative Party's candidate in London's mayoral race in 1999.
Archer's former friend, television producer Mr Ted Francis, disclosed that Archer had asked him to lie about an alibi in 1986 that related to the events of the libel trial.
Archer was forced to withdraw from the race and was suspended from the Conservative Party for five years, halting his tumultous and colourful political career.
Mr Francis was charged alongside Archer with attempting to pervert the course of justice. The jury found him not guilty of peverting the course of justice.The Daily Star/i> has issued proceedings against Lord Archer to overturn the 1987 libel trial.
The newspaper is also demanding the return of the damages and costs, plus interest amounting to £2.2 million.
