Briton faces 800 lashes and 8 years in jail

Gary O’Nions, 56, was also given a fine of about 400,000, the Foreign Office said.

Mr O’Nions’ Empire Club in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, was built with the help of British troops serving during the Gulf War and was popular with expatriate workers and diplomats. It was raided in the summer of 2000 by the country’s religious police, the mutawwa, and closed down.

It is understood that British officials did not find out about the sentencing of Mr O’Nions until 2 April - the day after he had faced Saudi authorities.

Mr O’Nions fled to Dubai before being extradited to Saudi Arabia in March last year.

His family were reported to be "devastated" by the sentence. His wife Mary said: "He’s done nothing to warrant such an outrageous sentence. The judge said he had corrupted the whole of Saudi Arabia. That’s ridiculous.

"He was not even allowed to have a lawyer. We just sit back and let the Saudis do what they want. Gary is in solitary, he can’t write letters or make phone calls and he doesn’t know what happens next. He can’t pay that sort of fine."

The Koran describes drunkenness as an "abomination of the devil", but drinking has long been a favoured pastime of Saudi Arabia’s 30,000 expatriate British workers, earning high salaries in the tax-free environment.

Smuggled brand-name liquor comes at a price, with a bottle costing as much as 125. The closed system of private bars and clubs, with elaborate membership and security precautions, was previously given a blind eye by the Saudi authorities.

Some of the country’s 6,000 princes have also been accused of having a fondness for alcohol in the deeply religious state.

However, with economic decline and internal disquiet over Saudi’s tacit compliance with the West’s war on terrorism, some Middle East commentators have described the ex-pat community there as an easy smoke-screen to cover wider social cracks.

Mr O’Nions has signalled his intention to appeal, but the Foreign Office has urged the family not to criticise the Saudis in public, for fear that rather than the sentence being commuted, it could be increased.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We can confirm that Gary O’Nions has been sentenced to eight years imprisonment and 800 lashes on alcohol related charges."

Meanwhile, five Britons facing the death penalty by beheading for their alleged involvement in a bombing campaign, may now be spared, after the Saudis signalled that the murder charges will be dropped. The group includes Scottish-born Alexander ‘Sandy’ Mitchell, 44.

The deepening crisis in the Middle East has intensified diplomatic efforts to end any uncertainty regarding the fate of the men.

In November 2000, Christopher Rodway, a British businessman working in Saudi Arabia, was killed in one of the bomb attacks, which injured several other expatriate workers.

Saudi investigators claimed that the five men had planted bombs to kill and injure rivals involved in the lucrative illicit drink trade.

However, since the five Britons were incarcerated, attacks on the Saudi state have continued. After the terrorist attacks of 11 September, the finger has been pointing at Islamic extremists within the closed state, said to be unhappy with the ruling Saudi royal family’s strong links with the West.

The five men are now likely to suffer the same fate as Mr O’Nions - sentenced to lengthy prison terms and harsh, public floggings.