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Wednesday, 23 October, 2002, 11:31 GMT 12:31 UK
Confidentiality breach admitted
Lady Archer arrives at September's hearing
Lady Archer claims she could not trust her assistant
The wife of jailed peer Lord Archer has appeared at a reconvened employment tribunal in a case brought against her by a former personal assistant.

Jane Williams, 49, from near Saffron Walden, Essex, worked at the Archers' home at Grantchester, Cambridgeshire, between 1988 and 2001.

She claims she was unfairly dismissed last year.

Lady Archer told the tribunal in September that she had advised a potential employer not to hire Mrs Williams.

Ms Williams
Ms Williams says her dismissal was unfair

"I most certainly warned this individual that Mrs Williams was untrustworthy, that she had taken confidential documents, and it was my advice she was not employable as a personal assistant", she said.

Lady Archer, 57, claimed her former PA had approached a publicity agent and offered to sell stories about her to Fleet Street.

Ms Williams told the tribunal she had not divulged sensitive information about her employer, but admitted she had passed on a database containing names of guests at a party at the Archers' to her former partner.

She said she agreed that it had been a breach of confidentiality and added that she had "immediately offered my resignation".

She said she had lost her job as Lady Archer's PA after she refused to sign a confidentiality clause.

The hearing was adjourned in September and resumed on Wednesday at Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk.


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