If you see evidence as rungs on a ladder, this one is going to give way under weight.”On Monday, the defence also dismissed as “unreliable evidence” a speck of firearm residue found in Mr George’s coat. Dr John Lloyd, a scientific expert, said: “The evidence is dependent on flawed police procedures.”Closing speeches for the prosecution and defence are due to start today.. There was, inevitably, laughter in court when Andrina Colquhoun said she could not remember her age when she began her affair with Jeffrey Archer. ” I’m so intimidated by these proceedings,” she said, shaking her head, her face haggard, etched with anxiety and stress. “You are holding up very well, if you don’t mind me saying so,” said Mrs Justice Potts. ” Perhaps if you told us what your date of birth was, we could work it out.”

There was, inevitably, laughter in court when Andrina Colquhoun said she could not remember her age when she began her affair with Jeffrey Archer. ” I’m so intimidated by these proceedings,” she said, shaking her head, her face haggard, etched with anxiety and stress.

“You are holding up very well, if you don’t mind me saying so,” said Mrs Justice Potts. ” Perhaps if you told us what your date of birth was, we could work it out.”Ms Colquhoun did, but Roy Amlot QC, cross-examining her, interjected gallantly: “I won’t work out the mathematics.”There was little of Ms Colquhoun’s personal life not laid bare when she gave her evidence at the Old Bailey. A large part of her 84-minute appearance was an examination of her relationship with Lord Archer of Weston-super-Mare; how they had become lovers, how her nickname for him was “Moon”, and how he had abandoned her to gain high office in the Conservative Party.David Waters QC, for the Crown, had begun: “I do not want to pry unnecessarily into your private life and I will restrict my questions in regard to that. May I ask you, did you have a relationship with Lord Archer?” That was the cue for the packed public gallery to lean forward in unison, and the press bench to become poised for furious scribbling.After a brief pause, Ms Colquhoun, in a black trouser suit, white shirt and a silver necklace, a silver ring glinting in her clutched hands, replied: “Yes, I did.” She went on, in a matter-of-fact voice, to chart the affair. It had begun “approximately at the end of 1979″, before she began to work as his personal assistant at his London apartment in Alembic House, on the Embankment.The court has been told that Lord Archer, 61, led a double life, spending the week with Ms Colquhoun in London, and the weekend with his wife, Mary, at his Cambridgeshire home, the Old Rectory at Grantchester.Ms Colquhoun denied she was Lord Archer’s “live-in mistress”. She said: “I do not think that was an accurate picture of our relationship.”The court was read a list of expensive presents Lord Archer was said to have bought Ms Colquhoun in 1987.

It took Nicholas Purnell QC, for the Tory peer, almost 10 minutes to go through the list of the stores and the purchases: Asprey’s, Chanel, Jaeger, Bruno Magli, Harrods, Bali, Benetton, Charles Jourdan, Monsoon … There was also, allegedly, a trip to Italy for the World Athletics Championships.Ms Colquhoun said she could not remember getting the gifts and denied she had gone on the Italian trip. She maintained that by September 1986, ” I would see Lord Archer from time to time, but my recollection was that the relationship fizzled out, perhaps not completely … My recollection was that he probably gave me a birthday present or a Christmas present.”By 1985, she told the court, Lord Archer was trying to keep the relationship more discreet. “I think he took steps to keep it secret, much more secret than prior to 1984. I think what I am trying to say is that we stopped going out to public restaurants.” Asked by Mr Waters why that was the case, Ms Colquhoun said: “I assumed because Jeffrey wanted to show that he …