Judgment reserved on Forsyth conviction

The Court of Appeal yesterday reserved judgment on Elizabeth Forsyth's conviction for laundering pounds 400,000 of stolen funds from Polly Peck, the fruit to electronics group that was run by the fugitive Asil Nadir and which collapsed in 1990.

The 60-year-old grandmother, who was an aide of Nadir's, walked free on Thursday after completing less than one year of a five-year sentence handed down last year. A jury convicted her last March of handling of stolen funds.

She was granted bail after the Court of Appeal ruled that her sentence was "disproportionate".

She has spent the last two days appealing against her sentence and her conviction.

"We desire to reserve our judgment in this matter ... we will give our decision as soon as we can," Lord Justice Beldam, one of the three appeal court judges, said yesterday.

Lord Justice Beldam said her bail would continue and indicated that whatever the result of their ruling on her conviction, Forsyth would not return to jail.