Lord Archer trial was unbalanced, Appeal Court told

Lord Archer was the victim of an ‘‘unbalanced’’ trial on charges of perjury and perverting the course of justice, the Court of Appeal heard today.

The multi-millionaire novelist was not present at the London courtroom as his counsel, Nicholas Purnell QC, applied on his behalf for permission to appeal against his conviction.

Archer’s renewed application comes a year into his four-year jail sentence for perjury and perverting the course of justice following guilty verdicts at the Old Bailey on July 19 last year.

The charges related to his successful 1987 High Court libel case against the Daily Star.

Lord Justice Rose, Mr Justice Colman and Mr Justice Stanley Burnton, were told today that Archer, who is also appealing against the length of his sentence, had waived his right to attend the hearing.

However, his sons William and James were in the public gallery of the packed courtroom.

At the start of the hearing Mr Purnell, outlining the grounds of appeal, said: ‘‘The submission that we make on behalf of Lord Archer is that the first and fundamental ground which interconnects with all the other grounds of appeal was that the learned trial judge wrongly exercised his discretion not to sever the trial of Edward Francis.’’

Archer’s former friend and co-defendant Ted Francis, who had been asked to provide a false alibi for the libel action, was cleared at their Old Bailey trial of perverting the course of justice.

Mr Purnell said the decision of the judge, Mr Justice Potts, not to sever the trial of Francis had an ‘‘unbalancing effect on the equilibrium’’ of the trial.

Counsel argued that Mr Francis was ‘‘in a position effectively as a substitute prosecution witness and a substitute prosecutor’’.

Archer, once a candidate for London mayor and a former Tory Party deputy chairman, won £500,000 at his libel trial over claims that he slept with prostitute Monica Coghlan.

At the Old Bailey, Archer had denied using a false diary and concocting a bogus story in his defence of the Daily Star’s claims in the libel action.

Archer, who has homes in London and Cambridge, was convicted on two counts of perverting the course of justice and two of perjury, but cleared on a third charge of perverting justice.

The jury took 23 hours and 31 minutes to reach unanimous verdicts.

Archer is serving his sentence at North Sea Camp prison in Lincolnshire.

The hearing is expected to last for the rest of the day.