Archer mourns as allegations mount

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Archer mourns as allegations mount

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Jeffrey Archer's woes were compounded yesterday with fresh allegations of illegal business deals, more threats to withdraw his peerage – and the agony of burying his mother.

The millionaire novelist and Tory peer was briefly released from Belmarsh Prison to attend his mother's funeral near his Cambridgeshire home. At the same time, it emerged that the Department of Trade and Industry had been targeting Archer for insider dealing even before the 1994 inquiry into his transactions in Anglia Television shares.

The Independent on Sunday has learnt that DTI inspectors looked into several allegations of share-buying, in a number of companies, said to have been on his behalf. There was, as in the Anglia case, insufficient evidence for prosecution. Now the DTI is braced for further allegations and will investigate if new information is obtained.

Archer could also face an Inland Revenue inquiry into allegations that he organised movements of cash without paying tax. And the Metropolitan Police are deciding if they will press charges over claims that money was stolen from £57m raised in aid for Kurds.

Labour MP Harry Cohen plans a Bill which would strip Archer of his peerage. Robin Cook, Leader of the House of Commons, hinted that he would consider legislation.

Yesterday, without handcuffs but escorted by plainclothes guards, Archer joined his wife, Mary, and his two sons, William and James, for the cremation of Lola Archer Haynes, who died on Monday aged 87. Archer, arriving at Cambridge crematorium, swapped a white prison van for a stretch Mercedes. After a 20-minute service the family returned to his home, the Old Vicarage, Grantchester, where Archer changed into a black suit. He then led the procession to the church for a memorial service.

He sat in view of the Ten Commandments, including God's injunctions against adultery and bearing false witness. Then he was driven back to Belmarsh Prison.