A Greek court on Thursday (21 October) suspended a 16-month prison sentence passed on Lady (Amalia) Fleming last month for her part in a plot to help a Greek prisoner escape. The court suspended her sentence on health grounds.

Lady Fleming, widow of Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin, said during the trial that she was suffering from diabetes and a disease of the urinary tract. A british doctor who recently examined her in prison said he found her health frail and fraught with many problems.

SYNOPSIS: Lady Fleming, sentenced in a Greek court last month to 16-months imprisonment for her part in a plot to help a Greek prisoner escape, arrived back in the courtroom on Thursday to be set free on health grounds.

Lady Fleming, the 62-year-old widow of Sir Alexander Fleming--the man who discovered penicillin--was examined by a British doctor while in prison. A medical report presented later to the court said that her health was frail and that she was fraught with many problems.

She later told reporters that she had been well treated in prison, and that she had no clear plans for the near future.