Monica Coghlan

Monica Coghlan (3 April 1951 – 27 April 2001) was an English prostitute at the centre of a scandal that involved British Conservative politician Jeffrey Archer in 1987. Although he won a libel case against the Daily Star newspaper, which had alleged that he had sex with her, it was later established, in legal proceedings in 2001, that he had perjured himself in the trial. Archer was jailed for this in July 2001. Coghlan died in a car crash shortly before the second trial and Archer's subsequent conviction.

Monica Mary Coghlan was born on 3 April 1951, in Rochdale, the sixth of seven children. She had a troubled childhood, leaving home and school at the age of 15. While living alone, the diminutive (1.50 m, 4' 11", as an adult) teenager suffered a violent sexual attack and was forced to leave her flat. She first worked as a cloakroom attendant at a local cabaret, then became a prostitute at the age of 17. Her work alias was 'Debbie'. She was arrested several times for soliciting in the Greater Manchester area, and moved to London. Other arrests led to convictions for cannabis possession and shoplifting. She served two prison terms. All the time she concealed what she did from her family, telling them she worked in property.

She became pregnant, and for a short time retired from prostitution, returning to live in Rochdale to raise her son, Robin Daley Coghlan (born 1984, Rochdale). When her boyfriend died unexpectedly, she returned to prostitution, leading a double life "to secure the boy's future"; she cared for the toddler during the week, then left him with friends or relatives at weekends, to commute by train to London to work.

In September 1986 Coghlan picked up a client in Shepherd Market, Mayfair. Aziz Kurtha, a Pakistani businessman who saw him with Coghlan, identified him as Jeffrey Archer, then the Conservative Party's Deputy Chairman. Kurtha sold the story of Archer seeing a prostitute to a tabloid newspaper. Rather than print the unverified story, the paper decided to organise a 'sting' by getting Coghlan to ask Archer for money to stay silent. On 24 October 1986, the News of the World filmed and audiotaped Michael Stacpoole, a representative of Jeffrey Archer, giving Coghlan £2,000 in £50 notes on Platform 3 of London's Victoria Station to leave the country to avoid reporters. Coghlan earned £6,000 from the newspapers for taking part in the sting operation. Archer admitted to giving Coghlan travel funds, but sued the bolder Daily Star for printing that he and Coghlan had had sex for money.

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