Archer jury told of his mother's death

The family Archer had arrived in court in various degrees of black, without their normal ready smile for the media. The jury was told 32 minutes later that the mother of Jeffrey Archer, the man whose guilt and innocence they will retire to decide, had died after a stroke.

Lord Archer of Weston-super-Mare looked drained, haggard. But it was Mary Archer, crying softly throughout most of the morning, who shouted out "she was 87", correcting the judge when he said "she was 88 or thereabouts". Mr Justice Potts flicked his eyes towards Lady Archer, clutching the hand of her elder son, William, sitting just outside the dock. He then turned back to the jury and continued to explain why he had taken the unusual step of allowing Lord Archer to leave the court on Wednesday.

"She was seriously ill and was not expected to survive the day," he said. "I have been told in the last few minutes that, sadly, Lord Archer's mother is dead and that is a matter that is bound to be made public, given the public interest in the case. I hope you would agree that ordinary, civil decency prevails and everybody through me expresses sympathy with Lord Archer." He paused and took a deep breath. "It is of crucial importance that your task and mine must not be diverted in any way from the course that we all embarked on together at the beginning of the trial."

And so the trial continued, with Mr Justice Potts resuming his summing up. But Court 13 was subdued and the atmosphere was strained, awkward.This has been a courtroom in which it had been easy to break into laughter, but yesterday, when the judge made an inadvertent joke looking at the Conservative deputy chairman's diary for 1987 – "Midday, Barking, that must be Lord Archer" – there was scarcely a smile, even in the press benches.

A few of the journalists went up to commiserate with Lord Archer. His mother, Lola, was of huge influence in his extraordinary life. He mumbled his thanks, clutching arms, seemingly genuinely touched by the gesture, for once lost for words. He had rushed from the Old Bailey to the nursing home in Saffron Walden, Essex, where she had died on Wednesday.

At 11.28am yesterday there was another interruption when the fire alarm went off in the Old Bailey and the building was evacuated. "No doubt all the evidence will now go up in smoke," said someone leaving the courtroom. But it was, of course, a false alarm and everyone trooped back after 20 minutes. Afterwards Mr Justice Potts analysed the evidence of Angela Peppiatt, Lord Archer's former personal assistant, who claims she had forged diaries on his instruction for the 1987 libel trial when he had successfully sued the Daily Star for saying that he had slept with Monica Coghlan, a prostitute, at a seedy hotel room in Victoria.

In the dock Lord Archer was distracted, fiddling with his pen rather than taking his endless notes. His mother had introduced him to her own enthusiasms: writing, the theatre and politics. She had been a journalist on the Western Mercury where she wrote a column in which the young Jeffrey, nicknamed "Tuppence", often featured. After a stint in broadcasting she was elected to Weston Borough Council as a Conservative.

Jeffrey was Lola's third child. She had a daughter called Wendy and a son, originally called Jeffrey, now David. Lord Archer found out about their existence late in his life.

The jury is expected to retire today. Lord Archer, 61, denies three charges of perverting the course of justice and two counts of perjury. His co- defendant, Ted Francis, 67, denies one charge of perverting the course of justice.