Under mansion arrest: Country bolthole lined up for WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange... as he begs judges not to reveal his address



Julian Assange to appear in High Court this morning

£240,000 bail money has to be lodged before release



Bid to keep bail address secret on PRIVACY grounds rejected



It will be something of a step up from HM Prison Wandsworth.

If WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is granted bail today, he will swop his room in the overcrowded South London jail for Ellingham Hall, an elegant ten-bedroom retreat in 600 secluded acres of Norfolk countryside.

The company he keeps will also be of a higher profile altogether.

Rural retreat: Julian Assange, will be a guest at Ellingham Hall, whose cellar is stocked with vintage wine and port if he is allowed to leave Wandsworth Prison To the manor born: Frontline Club founder and video journalist Vaughan Smith, 47 (left) will play host to Assange. The WikiLeaks founder had been using Mr Smith's facilities at the Frontline Club prior to his arrest



Luxury: Julian Assange will go to 10-bed mansion Ellingham Hall if he is released on bail

The 39-year-old Australian will be looking forward to convivial meals in the manor’s grand dining room with supporters including Jemima Khan, human rights campaigner Bianca Jagger and film director Ken Loach. No wonder his barrister, Geoffrey Robertson QC, quipped at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court this week that it would not be so much ‘house arrest as manor arrest’. There will still be a considerable imposition on Assange’s liberties, however – he will have to obey conditions including an afternoon and night curfew, reporting to police each day, and wearing an electronic tag. Ellingham Hall is owned by free speech supporter Vaughan Smith, 47, a former captain in the Grenadier Guards, video journalist and founder of the war reporters’ Frontline Club in London.

'Manor arrest': The elegant Georgian mansion is set amidst 600 secluded acres of Norfolk countryside

Assange had been hiding at the club in recent months while the international hunt for him intensified.

Meals at the manor are provided by a housekeeper, while excellent vintages of wine and port are available from the well-stocked cellar.



Contemplative walks will take Mr Assange through the estate’s sustainable farm, which has cattle, sheep, pigs and chickens which are slaughtered to provide organic food at the Frontline Club.

He will also pass by the carp lake and a walled garden which produces fruit and vegetables.









Photographers try to photograph WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as he is believed to arrive in a prison van at the Magistrates Court in Central London this morning



A 'Free Julian Assange' protestor demonstrates outside the City of Westminster Magistrates Court before his arrival this morning

The hall has a self-contained flat, which could provide the perfect retreat for Assange should he wish for time to himself. His host shares the hall with his second wife, Kosovan-born Pranvera Shema, and their two young daughters.

Churchgoer Mr Smith has offered to put up £20,000 towards Assange’s £240,000 bail surety.

Explaining why he would ‘never abandon’ the whistleblower, despite not approving of everything he had leaked, he said: ‘It was about standing up to the bully and the question of whether our country, in these historic times, really was the tolerant, independent and open place I had been brought up to believe it was and feel that it needs to be.’

Chaos: International media mingle with police and protesters outside court

Doubt: A protester makes her feelings known with a placard

Luvvies hold a £¼m Wiki whip-round to free the leakmaster

By PAUL HARRIS

Julian Assange arrives at Westminster Magistrates' Court inside a prison van with red-tinted windows

This was his finest hour. To one side stood some of the most expensive lawyers in the land. To another, a formidable line-up of celebrities, notables and do-gooders prepared to give their support – and a considerable amount of money – to back WikiLeaks whistleblower Julian Assange in his fight against extradition.

In a remarkable show of solidarity yesterday, they scrambled to his side to ensure justice was done for the self-appointed champion of free speech. And after an unprecedented Wiki whip-round, they paved the way for the 39-year-old Australian’s release on bail.

An unnamed Government minister, a Nobel Prize winner, human rights campaigner Bianca Jagger and film-maker Michael Moore joined a growing list of luvvies, lefties and ‘internationally renowned’ backers to stump up the £240,000 surety and security needed to win his release.

That will come as soon as the cash can be deposited with the extradition court hearing his case, probably within the next few days.

It will ensure the controversial leaker of secrets can properly defend himself against sex-assault allegations in Sweden – and is certain to gain him even more international celebrity than he already commands.

It will also mean they’re going to need an extra place around the table at Ellingham Hall this Christmas. The country estate in the Suffolk countryside is to play host to Mr Assange – after a judge ordered him to live there as a condition of his bail yesterday.

With enthusiastic backing from the Wiki Army, he will swap the ‘Dickensian’ conditions of Wandsworth jail for the elegant Georgian mansion, set in 600 acres of rolling parkland that happen to be just a bicycle ride from the nearest police station. Then he will be tagged, placed under a lunchtime and overnight curfew while extradition proceedings drag on over the festive period.

‘Placed under mansion arrest’ was how his barrister jauntily described it yesterday – at an address volunteered by an ex-Grenadier Guards Captain.The twist in the saga that has been capturing international attention came in a crowded courtroom just one week after Assange was ordered to remain in custody pending legal wrangling over extradition.

Yesterday the same judge who refused bail on ‘marginal’ grounds last week decided to grant it after lawyers convinced him Assange would not betray the friends and supporters who pledged their money to help him – and that he could be securely accommodated at Ellingham Hall, the home of free speech supporter Capt Henry Vaughan Lockhart Smith, a restaurateur, club owner and sustainable farmer.

Director Ken Loach, journalist John Pilger and socialite Jemima Khan were among the celebrities supporting Assange in court. Khan offered a surety on behalf of the WikiLeaks founder

Author Hanif Kureishi, activist Peter Tatchell and documentary-maker Michael Moore leant their support



He and another of Assange’s friends – catering company boss Sarah Saunders – stood surety of £20,000 each for him and will help to organise a further £200,000 in cash to deposit as security.



JUDGE LETS MEDIA TWEET

In a shock ruling, the judge at Julian Assange's bail hearing allowed reporters to use micro-blog site Twitter in court.

Court reporting is usually governed by very strict rules with any recording or photographs strictly forbidden under The Contempt of Court Act 1981.

But District Judge Howard Riddle sanctioned the use of Twitter during proceedings at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court, because he couldn't find a reason not to.

The Act allows for reports that are 'fair and accurate' and which have been 'published contemporaneously and in good faith'.

Here, Judge Riddle appears to have taken advantage of the fact that there is no statutory ban on creating text by means of electronic devices in a court. Indeed, many judges now make their own notes on proceedings on laptops.

It meant thousands of people following freedom of information campaigner Heather Brooke and Times reporter Alexi Mostrous on the mini blogging website were treated to snippets of information throughout the hearing.

That is unlikely to prove difficult - Assange’s legal team made it clear that a host of rich friends, plus ten ‘distinguished international figures’ were on a growing list of those prepared to support him. They join others including Mrs Jagger, film director Ken Loach and Jemima Khan.

This was the Second Act of the Wiki Man drama and there’s still the finale to come. Between now and a court date in January, Assange’s counsel Geoffrey Robertson QC, and his team will prepare their case. They have already set about demolishing some of what Mr Robertson described as ‘defamatory rumours and stories swirling around Mr Assange’. Yesterday he asserted the vigorously contested sex allegations two women made against him would not be classed as rape here.

Would Assange take flight though? Mr Robertson said he would never even consider betraying so many well-wishers. If he did, he said, his reputation would be shot. Both the Captain and Sarah Saunders spoke highly of their friend before pledging to cough up the wonga, to coin an Australian phrase. Saunders said he was amusing... sensitive... intelligent.

Mr Robertson said Mr Assange could put £110,000 into the court straight away to secure his client’s release. ‘Nice try,’ said the judge. ‘But I said £200,000.’