Vicky Pryce guilty over Huhne’s speeding points

The jury, of seven men and five women, unanimously rejected Pryce‘s plea of not guilty to perverting the course of justice under a defence of marital coercion.

Pryce and her former husband, Chris Huhne, will be both sentenced at a later date.

She had admitted taking her then-husband’s speeding points but told the court that he stood over her “pen in hand” and forced her to sign the papers saying she was driving the car when it was clocked speeding – a plea that the court rejected.

Huhne issued a surprise resignation as MP in February after pleading guilty to perverting the course of justice over claims his ex-wife took his speeding points.

Judge Nigel Sweeney granted Pryce bail until sentencing, but warned her to be “under no illusions” about a possible sentence. Perverting the course of justice usually carries a sentence of between four months and three years in jail.

The retrial at Southwark Crown Court was ordered after the original jury failed to reach a verdict.

Lib Dems ‘knew of scandal’

Now a verdict has been reached, emails between between Vicky Pryce and Sunday Times journalist Isabel Oakeshott have been made public, and raise questions about how much senior Liberal Democrats knew about the scandal before it hit the headlines.

Pryce told Ms Oakeshott that both Vince Cable and Nick Clegg’s wife Miriam knew that she had taken her ex-husband’s points.

Both Ms Clegg and Mr Cable denied any knowledge of the scandal and both issued statements rejecting Pryce’s claims.

In his directions to the jury, the judge asked them to invoke “cool, calm, careful and dispassionate consideration of the evidence”. He said the marital coercion defence was tightly defined in law: a wife can only be considered “morally blameless” if the reason they commit an offence is solely if “her husband was present and coerced her”.

Huhne and pryce will be sentenced jointly at a date to be set. Judge repeats ‘be under no illusion’ message to pryce after guilty verdict

— simon israel (@simonisrael) March 7, 2013

Caught on camera

The court heard that the allegations dated back to 2003, when the former MEP’s BMW was caught on camera speeding back from Stansted airport after he had returned from Strasbourg.

He already had nine points on his licence and thought that if he was banned it would affect his chances of being nominated as the Lib Dem candidate for Eastleigh in Hampshire.

Pryce, who had a clean licence at the time, said he forced her to take the points, nominating her as the driver and then making her sign a second form confirming she was driving at the time.

Huhne lost his licence anyway that year, the court heard, after being caught talking on his mobile phone while driving. But he was nominated as the candidate and went on to win the Eastleigh seat in 2005.

Marriage break down

In 2010, Pryce and Huhne’s marriage broke down after it emerged that he had been having an affair with PR advisor Carina Trimingham.

In 2011, the “point-swapping” scandal hit the papers – after Pryce revealed what had happened back in 2003 to Sunday Times political editor Isabel Oakeshott.

Pryce had told the court her ex-husband prioritised his political ambitions throughout their marriage, forcing her to compromise her own successful career. She said Huhne demanded she have an abortion in 1990 because it would be bad for his career, but told jurors she went on to resist the same demands two years later, giving birth to their youngest child.

During proceedings, the court heard that the family had broken down and angry text message exchanges between Huhne and his son were read out as evidence.

Her barrister, Julian Knowles QC, said the prosecution description of her as a “tough, armour-plated career woman” was false.

But prosecutor Andrew Edis QC said Ms Pryce was a capable, manipulative and intelligent woman who acted of her own free will.