JAILED tycoon and ex-Blackpool FC chairman Owen Oyston will be driven out of the gates of Wymott Prison tomorrow morning (Friday, November 21) ... hoping never to return.

He will be taken from Leyland to Brixton Prison in south London where he will spend the weekend before his appearance at the Royal Courts of Justice next Monday morning.

At the two-day hearing at the Appeal Court, Tony Scrivener QC will argue that Oyston was wrongly convicted of rape and sexual assault on a 16-year-old East Lancashire model at his home, Claughton Castle, near Lancaster .

This week, 63-year-old Oyston, at £103 million Britain's richest prisoner, and his legal team have been putting the finishing touches to the appeal.

A visitor told the Citizen: "Owen is looking very well. He's very buoyant and looking forward to the appeal.

"He's lost a bit of weight and he's very fit because he exercises every afternoon.

"His hair is whiter and shorter, but his goatee beard is quite pronounced. He looks fine."

Oyston's family, wife Vicki sons Adam and Carl and daughters Heidi, Karen and Dawn will all meet up with him on Monday, although Vicki is expecting to visit him in Brixton over the weekend.

It will be the first time Oyston has been outside prison walls since his transfer from Liverpool's Walton Jail to Wymott, in the summer of 1996 - a few weeks after he was sentenced to six years' imprisonment at Liverpool Crown Court.

Several defence witnesses will be at the hearing although it is not certain that they will all be called to give evidence.

Hearing of the new evidence was allowed by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Bingham, sitting with Mr Justice Rougier and Mr Justice Kay a few weeks ago when Oyston was granted leave to appeal.

The Appeal judges could announce their decision on Tuesday. They could allow the appeal, reject it or possibly order a retrial.

They may defer judgment, although this is unlikely.

Britain's richest inmate could be celebrating with his family in London on Tuesday night - a free man after 18 months behind bars. Prisoner KE2535 simply refuses to consider the alternative.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.