Pryce Guilty of Perverting the Course of Justice

Today the ex-wife of former cabinet minister Chris Huhne has been found guilty of perverting the course of justice for accepting his speeding points.

Vicky Pryce, 60, was convicted at Southwark Crown Court in London. The jury accepted the prosecution’s case that Ms Pryce falsely accepted Mr Huhne’s speeding points back in 2003 so that he would avoid prosecution. Mr Huhne already had 9 penalty points on his licence and faced losing it if he accumulated 12 points. Mr Huhne previously pleaded guilty to the offence in February, after initially claiming he was innocent.

Ms Pryce had adopted the little used defence of marital coercion at her trial, claiming that Mr Huhne coerced her into accepting the points and was present at the time when she accepted them. The jury rejected this, however. The court had heard that Ms Pryce wanted to expose Mr Huhne after he admitted an affair. In an email to a Sunday Times journalist, Pryce had said she wanted to ‘nail him’. For more information on the facts of this case and the defence of marital coercion, see this original article: http://lawscapeuk.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/perverting-course-of-justice-and.html

The verdict came after 12 hours of deliberations. This was a retrial of the offence after the first trial was stopped when the jury failed to reach a decision. The judge, Mr Justice Sweeney, had expressed concern about the first jury’s ‘fundamental deficit in understanding’ of the trial process. For more information about the first trial and the concern about the jury, see this article: http://lawscapeuk.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/perverting-course-of-justice-again-can.html

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said that costs in the case amounted to £100,000. It said that Chris Huhne challenged the prosecution and then pleaded guilty at the last minute, which was expensive. The CPS has said it intends to apply for the costs of the case to be ordered to be paid by Huhne and Pryce.

The judge has told both Pryce and Huhne that they should be under ‘no illusions’ about the likely sentence they will receive. Perverting the course of justice is a serious offence and it is often punished with imprisonment. The pair will be sentenced at a later date. In the meantime they both remain on bail.

What sentence do you think Huhne and Pryce should be given? Do you think accepting speeding points for another person is a serious offence? Should the pair be given harsher sentences because of their high profile positions?