Australian weight-loss conman released early from prison

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BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — A man who promoted fake weight-loss products and was captured after a year on the run was granted an early release from prison on Friday, after serving one year behind bars.

The Federal Court in Brisbane approved Peter Foster's bid for an early release from his 18-month prison sentence. Justice John Logan warned him to stay out of trouble until his full sentence has expired.

Foster, 53, was convicted last year of assaulting police and resisting arrest when officers found him hiding out near the resort town of Byron Bay, 800 kilometers (500 miles) north of Sydney, after spending a year on the run.

Foster, also notorious for his business dealings with the wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, vanished in 2013 after failing to show up at a sentencing hearing. That sentence related to his conviction for flouting a court ban in 2005 on participating in the weight-loss industry.

The judge last year did not impose a sentence on him for the convictions related to his arrest, ordering him instead to serve out his earlier sentence for promoting a mouth spray that was falsely marketed as a weight-loss product.

Asked what his plans are now that he's a free man, Foster replied that it was "a bit early in the day for a lap dance."

"So I think I'll just go home to my mum and make a cup of tea, hold her hand and tell her I'm sorry for the last 12 months," he said.

Foster also became the subject of controversy in Britain when he helped Cherie Blair, the former prime minister's wife, buy two reduced-price apartments in Bristol in 2002. The scandal dubbed "Cheriegate" prompted Cherie Blair to make a public apology.