Die Hard director facing prison

John McTiernan's credits include Last Action Hero and Medicine Man

Die Hard director John McTiernan has been sentenced to four months in prison after a judge refused his request to withdraw a guilty plea.

A Los Angeles court gave the film-maker until 15 January to turn himself in and imposed a fine of $100,000 (£49,707).

McTiernan, 56, pleaded guilty last year to making false statements to FBI agents investigating disgraced celebrity detective Anthony Pellicano.

He tried to withdraw his plea, claiming insufficient legal representation.

The 56-year-old's lawyer has indicated that an appeal will be mounted.

Breaching privacy

At Monday's hearing, the director's defence team argued that he had just returned from a long trip to Asia when he spoke to an FBI agent, was on antibiotics and had come off anti-depressant medication.

But the judge said the arguments were "completely lacking in credibility".

When he entered his guilty plea last year, the film director told a judge that he had denied knowing about Anthony Pellicano's alleged wiretapping activities during his FBI interview.

But he then admitted he had used the detective to wiretap Charles Roven, who he worked with on the film Rollerball.

Mr Pellicano faces up to 20 years in jail for allegedly obtaining the private records of high-profile figures in Hollywood.

He is accused of breaching the privacy of US stars Sylvester Stallone, Keith Carradine and Garry Shandling among others.

He has denied 110 counts of bugging telephones and bribing police officers in order to obtain information about celebrities and other people.