Archer went to 'great lengths' to keep her face-lift secret

Lady Archer claims Jane Williams, her personal assistant for 13 years, was the source of the article in the Sunday Mirror in February 2002 - three months after losing her job.

The wife of disgraced peer Jeffrey Archer said Ms Williams, 49, also told police about work she was doing to help her husband's case in the run-up to his perjury trial.

She claims Ms Williams acted in breach of confidence and has gone to court to claim damages and a permanent injunction against her former employee.

She said private information about her had been taken by Ms Williams and "served up on a platter with a sauce of malice for the tabloid newspapers".

'Great shock'

Lady Archer, 58, told the court that she had been upset to see a story about her face-lift in the press and that Ms William's "betrayal" had been "a very great shock".

She said: "I went to very, very great lengths to keep this secret simply because I prefer to keep such matters private."

Jane Williams worked for Lady Archer for 13 years

Lady Archer said she was cared for by her husband's sister, a fully qualified nurse, in New York following the operation.

She told the judge that she "absolutely did not" discuss having "a nip and a tuck" with either Ms Williams or another PA, Mrs Barrie Clark.

But she was adamant that it was Ms Williams, and not another member of staff, that had gone to the press.

"It's perfectly true that my housekeeper and gardener could have acted as Jane did - but they did not and she did," Lady Archer said.

'�60,000 story'

Thomas Linden, representing Lady Archer, told the High Court that Ms Williams refused to sign a confidentiality agreement when she returned to work after Archer's trial

I had become aware that a number of people were passing information in a number of directions before, during and after my husband's trial Mary Archer

Mr Linden said she then contacted the Mail on Sunday and a draft agreement indicated that she would be paid �60,000 for a story by the paper.

Ms Williams fell out with one of the newspaper's journalists and so moved on to publicist Max Clifford, Mr Linden said.

He claimed Ms Williams faxed a 13-page document to the News of the World and Mr Clifford, containing highly detailed and confidential extracts from Lady Archer's working diaries.

Mr Linden described the fax as "the tip of the iceberg" and claimed that Ms Williams had already had detailed conversations with third parties.

In February 2002, the article appeared in the Sunday Mirror, with others in the Sunday Express, the News of the World and the Daily Mail.

'Pure fiction'

As well as selling stories to the press, Lady Archer claimed that Ms Williams passed on information to the police about work she was doing concerning for husband's trial.

Under cross-examination by Ramby de Mello, Lady Archer denied that her allegation that Ms Williams "spied" on her while in her employment was "pure fiction".

She replied: "If it would assist the court, I would be happy to show, in confidence, the material I obtained and subsequent correspondence with Sir John Stevens, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.

"I had become aware that a number of people were passing information in a number of directions before, during and after my husband's trial."