12 Jun 2013

Constance Briscoe: I will fight allegations over Huhne trial

The UK’s most high-profile female judge, Constance Briscoe, vows to fight allegations she perverted the course of justice in connection with the Chris Huhne trial.

Constance Briscoe.

Barrister and part-time judge Constance Briscoe is facing allegations that she falsely claimed to Essex police that she had no dealings with the press over the Chris Huhne speeding points case.

The 56-year-old is accused of two counts of perverting the course of justice. The first alleges that, between May 2011 and last October, she provided police with two statements that were inaccurate. The second alleges that on 6 October she produced a copy of her witness statement that had been altered, yet said that it was the correct version.

CPS senior lawyer Deborah Walsh said: “We have determined that there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction and that these charges are in the public interest.”

Both Chris Huhne and his ex-wife Vicky Pryce received eight-month sentences after it emerged that Pryce had taken points for her former husband a decade ago.

Mr Huhne, the former energy secretary, and leading figure in the Liberal Democrats, pleaded guilty on the first day of a planned joint trial in February. Vicky Pryce was later convicted by a jury.

More from Channel 4 News: Chris Huhne - I lied and lied again

In an interview recorded shortly before he was sentenced Mr Huhne told Channel 4 News: “I certainly lied and lied again, and part of it was about saving my career but it was also partly to try and avoid the consequences for my family.

“I suppose the most important message I wanted to get across is really to say sorry to my family, friends, colleagues and constituents. Very clearly I should not have swapped points with my ex-wife.”

Same street

During legal proceedings it was alleged that Ms Briscoe, from the same street where the former couple lived, had lied to police over her dealings with the press about the points-swapping, which first emerged through newspaper stories in 2011.

The barrister, who hit the headlines in 2008 when her mother sued her over claims made in her “misery memoir” Ugly, was arrested on October 2012 and suspended by the Office of Judicial Complaints.

A spokeswoman for the Office for Judicial Complaints said: “The Lord Chief Justice and Lord Chancellor have suspended Constance Briscoe from the judiciary pending the outcome of the police investigation into the allegations against her.”

She is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 24 June.