Jeffrey Archer released from jail

Jeffrey Archer has been released from jail after serving two years and two days of a four-year sentence.

The disgraced British peer was driven from Hollesley Bay Open Prison in Suffolk, UK by one of his sons.

The ex-convict - who was thought to be heading for his country home in Grantchester, near Cambridge - was followed by two TV cameramen riding motorcycle pillion.

Jonathan Aitken, the former British Tory MP who also served time in jail for perjury, said Archer would feel a mixture of exhilaration and apprehension on his release from prison.

"He on the one hand will be full of exhilaration that it is about to be over - he will be free, he will be out there in the world away from prison and that is a joyful experience," he told GMTV.

"On the other hand, I think there will be a certain apprehension too, because all prisoners and ex-prisoners - and we all talked about this - know that the period immediately after release is a period of difficult readjustment, both psychologically and in terms of building bridges with family and with friends.

"It is a changed world that you go back to after being in an institutional world, and it really does take a bit of skill and delicacy and sensitivity to readjust to well, rather like a deep sea diver coming up, you need a period of decompression and I hope that is what he will get."

Lord Archer has been at Hollesley Bay Prison since October 17, 2002.

He also served time at Bellmarsh high security prison in south east London, North Sea Camp, Lincolnshire, and Lincoln jails.