Archer must tow prison lines for next six months

JEFFREY ARCHER must stay on his best behaviour for six months or be punished for breaching prison rules with his diary on life behind bars, it emerged last night.

The disgraced peer yesterday admitted breaching strict prison guidelines by identifying other inmates and their crimes in his book, A Prison Diary.

He accepted the breach at a disciplinary hearing with the governor of Lincoln Prison, hours after the text hit the bookshelves.

The governor's punishment to Archer was two weeks without prison allowance and a fortnight without being able to buy extras from the canteen, but both were suspended for six months, it was revealed.

It effectively means Archer will not be punished for publishing his diary as long as he stays within prison rules until next April.

However, a further breach, which would include more published diaries, would see him serve his punishment and a new one for the fresh breach, it is understood.

Archer pleaded guilty to breaching Standing Order Five of the Prison Rules, which refers to publications by inmates. Under the rules it is strictly forbidden to identify other inmates or their offences. In his book, based on three weeks in London's Belmarsh Prison, Archer named, among others, Jill Dando's killer Barry George and Great Train robber Ronnie Biggs.

If the breach had been serious enough, the convict peer could have faced extra days added to the four years he is serving for perjury and perverting the course of justice in a 1987 libel trial.

A spokeswoman for the diary publishers Macmillan said they felt vindicated for the decision to publish in light of the conclusion of the disciplinary action. However she could not say when the second volume, based on time in Wayland prison, Norfolk, would be published other than "next year".

If it is within six months, Archer risks breaching his suspended punishment if the new volume breaks prison rules again.

Macmillan said a work of fiction by Archer, called Sons of Fortune, will be published as planned in January.

Yesterday's punishment will not affect Archer's chances of being moved back to an open prison at a future date.