To Cut a Long Story Short (2000) by Jeffrey Archer

it his client’s first offence, but that he had invited the police to accompany him to his home, well aware that they
would discover the stolen goods and that he would be arrested. Could there be better proof of a repentant and remorseful man, he asked.
    Mr Duveen went on to point out to the court that Mr Merchant had served nine years in the armed services, and had been honourably discharged following active service in the Gulf, but that since
leaving the army he seemed unable to settle down to civilian life. Mr Duveen did not claim this as an excuse for his client’s behaviour, but he wished the court to know that Mr Merchant had
vowed never to commit such a crime again, and therefore pleaded with the judge to impose a lenient sentence.
    Kenny stood in the dock, his head bowed.
    The judge lectured him for some time on how evil his crime had been, but added that he had taken into consideration all the mitigating circumstances surrounding this case, and had settled on a
prison sentence of two years.
    Kenny thanked him, and assured him that he would not be bothering him again. He knew that the next crime he had planned could not end up with a prison sentence.
    Chief Inspector Travis watched as Kenny was taken down, then, turning to the prosecuting counsel, asked, ‘How much do you imagine that bloody man has made by keeping to the letter of the
law?’
    ‘About a hundred thousand would be my bet,’ replied the Crown’s silk.
    ‘More than I’d be able to put by in a lifetime,’ the Chief Inspector commented, before uttering a string of words that no one present felt able to repeat to their wives over
dinner that evening.
    Prosecuting counsel was not far out. Kenny had deposited a cheque at the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank earlier that week for PS86,000.
    What the Chief Inspector couldn’t know was that Kenny had completed only half of his plan, and that now the seed money was in place, he was ready to prepare for an early retirement. Before
he was taken away to prison, he made one further request of his solicitor.

    While Kenny was holed up in Ford Open Prison he used his time well. He spent every spare moment going over various Acts of Parliament that were currently being debated in the
House of Commons. He quickly dismissed several Green Papers, White Papers and Bills on health, education and the social services, before he came across the Data Protection Bill, each clause of
which he set about studying as assiduously as any Member of the House of Commons at the report stage of the Bill. He followed each new amendment that was placed before the House, and each new
clause as it was passed. Once the Act had become law in 1992, he sought a further interview with his solicitor.
    The solicitor listened carefully to Kenny’s questions and, finding himself out of his depth, admitted he would have to seek counsel’s opinion. ‘I will get in touch with Mr
Duveen immediately,’ he said.
    While Kenny waited for his QC’s judgement, he asked to be supplied with copies of every business magazine published in the United Kingdom.
    The solicitor tried not to look puzzled by this request, as he had done when he had been asked to supply every Act of Parliament currently being debated in the House of Commons. During the next
few weeks, bundles and bundles of magazines arrived at the prison, and Kenny spent all his spare time cutting out any advertisements that appeared in three magazines or more.
    A year to the day after Kenny had been sentenced, he was released on parole following his exemplary behaviour. When he walked out of Ford Open Prison, having served only half his term, the one
thing he took with him was a large brown envelope containing three thousand advertisements and the written opinion of leading counsel on clause 9, paragraph 6, subsection (a) of the Data Protection
Act 1992.
    A week later, Kenny took a flight to Hong Kong.

    The Hong Kong police reported back to Chief Inspector Travis that Mr Merchant