Archer back in jail

Lord and Lady Archer kissed and hugged goodbye

Lord Archer is back behind bars after being let out of Belmarsh Prison to attend his mother's funeral in Cambridgeshire.

Two days after being jailed for four years for perjury and perverting the course of justice, the disgraced peer was allowed out of the south east London prison to go to the crematorium in Cambridge.

Lola Hayne, aged 87, who died 10 days ago, was cremated in Madingley and a memorial service followed in nearby Grantchester.

Archer was flanked by police and prison officers but did not have to wear handcuffs as he joined his wife, Mary, and sons, William, 29, and James, 27.

It was a dignified service carried out in a very straightforward way

Rt Rev Peter Walker

After the service, Archer and his wife emerged from the church of St Andrew and St Mary arm in arm.

They kissed and hugged goodbye before Archer climbed into the white van with blacked-out windows that had brought him from jail.

Archer waved to his wife and sons briefly before the doors were closed and the van departed.

Lady Archer and her sons then returned to the family home.

Earlier, two police officers guarded the crematorium's entrance while the press were kept behind barriers.

The former bishop of Ely, the Rt Rev, Peter Walker conducted both services which he said were "simple and dignified".

An arrangement of flowers carried a card saying: 'To dearest Mo. In loving memory Mary, Jeffrey, William, James and GC.'

One bystander said Archer had said he would like to walk in through the church's front entrance.

Wearing the suit he had on when he was sent to prison, he was then taken to his Grantchester home, where he spent an hour guarded by prison officers and changed into a dark suit and black tie.

The peer linked arms and chatted with his wife as he was allowed to walk the few hundred yards through the centre of the village from his home to the church with his family.

The police said this was against their advice but had been approved by the Prison Service at the last moment.

A Prison Service spokesman said Archer was not a threat to public safety or likely to escape.

Archer read a short lesson from Revelations during the memorial service.

Lola Hayne, aged 87, died during Archer's perjury trial

William read Rupert Brooke's poem The Dead.

A simple arrangement of flowers, including stargazer lilies and roses, carried a card saying: "To dearest Mo. In loving memory Mary, Jeffrey, William, James and GC."

Archer remained composed throughout the service, according to one mourner.

Asked if Archer had showed any emotion, the mourner replied: "He put it into his reading."

Archer was given permission to go to his mother's bedside at her nursing home in Saffron Walden, Essex during his trial.

On Thursday, he was sentenced to four years after the Old Bailey jury found that he had lied and cheated in his 1987 libel case against the Daily Star, which had printed a story claiming he had slept with a prostitute.

He was convicted of two counts of perjury and two counts of perverting the course of justice, but cleared of one count of perverting the course of justice.

Lady Archer with her son William

Meanwhile the peer's financial affairs are coming under new scrutiny amid tax evasion allegations.

Former Conservative MP Emma Nicholson has called for the Fraud Squad to look into what happened to millions of pounds raised by Lord Archer for the Kurdish people of northern Iraq.

And the Inland Revenue is believed to be investigating claims that he has avoided paying thousands of pound in tax.

Lord Archer's conviction has prompted calls for parliamentary rules to be changed to strip peers convicted of criminal offences of their titles.

Tory leadership candidate Kenneth Clarke joined the debate on Saturday when he told BBC Radio 4 that if the conviction stood, Lord Archer should serve his time and leave the House of Lords.

Detectives are also looking at trial evidence given by Lady Archer to decide whether to press charges.