Bestselling author and former MP Jeffrey Archer died earlier this month aged 86, ending a life marked by literary success and repeated scandal. His career included a high-profile libel victory against the Daily Star, followed years later by a perjury conviction that sent him to prison.
A Scandalous Encounter in Mayfair
In September 1986, Archer was at the height of respectability, having written his way out of bankruptcy with hit novels and become deputy chairman of the Conservative Party. Despite his marriage to scientist Mary Weeden, he went out one evening and met sex worker Monica Coghlan in Mayfair, central London.
Businessman Aziz Kurtha witnessed the encounter, recognised Archer, and sold the story to the News of the World. The tabloid organised a sting in which Coghlan would demand money to stay silent. On October 24, they filmed Archer's friend Michael Stackpole giving Coghlan £2,000 in £50 notes at Victoria Station.
Libel Trial and Damages
The scandal made headlines across the press, but most publications avoided stating that Archer had sex with Coghlan. Daily Star editor Lloyd Turner chose to acknowledge the obvious. Archer resigned as Tory chairman, insisting he had never met or spoken to Coghlan, and gave her the money as a gesture of goodwill.
He then launched legal action against the Daily Star. When the case came to court in July 1987, he claimed he had paid Coghlan to leave the country to stop her being hounded over false rumours. Coghlan, then 36, broke down in tears during her evidence but hit back when accused of lying by Archer's lawyer, Robert Alexander QC.
"He's the liar," she said. "Do you know what I've been through for that liar? Just because he's got power and money. I've never harmed anybody, I've just survived all my life. He knows that it's him."
Archer won the case and was awarded £500,000 in damages. The case helped promote his first stage play, which opened in London's West End soon afterwards.
Plagiarism Accusations
The following year, Archer released a book of short stories, A Twist In The Tale. Our deputy editor Pat Wooding was given a copy by her husband, political journalist and broadcaster David Wooding. Pat noticed a similarity between the story The Wine-Taster and Somerset Maugham's A String Of Beads.
When Archer next saw David in Parliament, he asked if Pat had enjoyed the stories. David told him what she had said. When the stories were reprinted, Archer acknowledged Maugham and sent Pat a signed copy. Author Kathleen Burnett also accused Archer of taking the plot of one of her stories for the same book.
Perjury Conviction and Prison
In 1999, while running for Mayor of London, former close friend Ted Francis gave media interviews accusing Archer of asking him to provide a false alibi during the 1987 libel trial. Archer withdrew his mayoral candidacy and was expelled by the party.
He was charged with perjury and perverting the course of justice, and the trial went to court in May 2001, a month after Coghlan's death in a car accident. He was found guilty of both offences, sentenced to four years in prison, and ordered to repay £500,000 to the Daily Star plus £1.3 million in legal costs and interest.
