A BUSINESSMAN who was jailed for lying in divorce proceedings to stop his wife getting her hands on his money has died in prison.

Graham Shipley, 58, formerly of Ampleforth, near Helmsley, was found in his cell at Wealstun Prison, near Wetherby, by prison officers at 8.20pm on Friday.

A Prison Service spokeswoman said the coroner had been informed of his death, which was believed to have been from natural causes. A post-mortem examination will be carried out.

Shipley was in the third month of an 18-month prison term after being jailed in March.

A jury at York Crown Court convicted him of two charges of perjury during an eight-day trial.

They found he had hid a £150,000 gift from his first wife, Susan, 59, during divorce proceedings, and then managed to stop maintenance payments to her on the grounds he could not pay - when in fact he had £250,000 in undeclared assets.

Recorder Deborah Sherwin told Shipley at the trial: "Whenever you are in trouble, you automatically resort to lies until you are found out. Unfortunately, you are going to pay the price for it."

Shipley's second wife, Jennifer, who is believed to live in Strensall, revealed the perjury when their marriage broke up in 1999.

Shipley, a former special constable who had moved to County Monaghan in the Irish Republic, denied perjuring himself at Lincoln County Court on July 6, 1989, by concealing a £150,000 gift from his employer, Frank Cosgrave, and on December 5, 1992, by declaring he had no money in the bank.

For Shipley, John Cartwright said he was suffering from high blood pressure and stress as a result of the court proceedings.

Susan Shipley said outside court: "The law has at last caught up with him. Justice has been done."

Updated: 10:58 Monday, June 09, 2003