Hollywood actor Wesley Snipes lost his battle against a three-year prison sentence for tax evasion on Friday.

The court of appeal in Atlanta ruled that the judge properly sentenced the 47-year-old White Men Can’t Jump star. His lawyers had argued that the sentence was “unreasonable” and that he should have been granted a hearing to decide whether his trial should have been held in New York instead of Florida. Snipes received the maximum sentence from a judge in Florida in 2008 for dodging more than $15 million in federal income taxes on earnings from the peak of his career. Two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington had written to US District Court judge William Terrell Hodges asking that Snipes, 45, be spared a prison sentence. “Wesley is like a mighty oak tree,” he wrote. “Many who know him have witnessed the fruit of his labours. I have sat in his shade and even been protected by his presence.” Woody Harrelson, who said he had known Snipes for two decades and starred alongside him in the movie Wildcats, said his friend was “a true citizen of the world”. A number of other show business friends provided glowing character references. But their appeal fell on deaf ears. Snipes was convicted of three counts of failing to file tax returns from 1999 to 2001, but was acquitted of felony fraud and conspiracy charges. US attorney Robert O’Neill told the judge that Snipes was a ‘notorious’ tax protester who deliberately used bogus and discredited arguments to avoid paying. During the investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Snipes was arrested at Johannesburg airport for allegedly trying to pass through using a fake South African passport. He was arrested shortly after he was deported to the US.

— Daily Mail

‘Mr Bean’ upsets neighbours; plans to demolish 1930s country house

Rowan Atkinson has infuriated neighbours in a seventh century village with plans to bulldoze his country home and replace it with a modernist steel and glass house.

One villager described the three-storey, five-bedroom home as a “space-age petrol station”. Neighbours had hoped he might restore the old house to keep it in harmony with its surroundings. But the 55-year-old star of Mr Bean wants to spend an estimated £5 million creating the state-of-the-art house. Neighbour Emma Hulbert, 45, said: “While the modern architecture may be appropriate in London it is wholly inappropriate to the rural landscape.” In response to the criticism, Atkinson said: “I don’t want to live in a house that is weird or futuristic but one that is simple, graceful and elegant. It would be a shame if people felt that there was no place in the countryside for modern design.”

— Daily Mail

Camelot cutie! Suri Cruise visits Katie Holmes on set of Jackie O movie

Katie Holmes got a very special visitor on the location of her new series The Kennedys on Friday–her daughter Suri Cruise.

The 31-year-old took a break between takes to spend time with the 4-year-old, who clung tightly to her as they strolled around the set. The actress was in full costume and make-up for her role as a young Jacqueline Kennedy and proved to be an impressive doppelgänger in a cream suit, pearls and thick brunette bob. Holmes, who reduced her acting commitments after the birth of her daughter, is currently filming the series in Coburg, Canada. The eight-hour show, which will air in the US next year on the History Channel, covers the rise of the family’s political dynasty and the early years of Kennedy’s presidency before he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas in 1963.

— Daily Mail