CHRIS Huhne’s jilted ex-wife Vicky Pryce told the press she took his speeding
points in a bid to “nail him” and destroy his career in revenge for him
leaving her for another woman, a court heard today.
Shamed former Cabinet minister Huhne was clocked speeding in March 2003 and
persuaded his then wife Pryce to take his points so he could avoid losing
his licence.
The news later emerged in national newspapers, sparking a lengthy
investigation which, until yesterday, Huhne denied.
During an email exchange eight years later with a Sunday Times journalist, Pryce
said she wanted the revelation to “bring Chris down”, a jury was told
today.
Huhne and Pryce were both charged last year with perverting the course of
justice over the offence and were due to stand trial together.
But following nearly two years proclaiming his innocence, former energy
secretary Huhne is now facing jail after he dramatically changed his plea
yesterday, admitting the offence and resigning as an MP.
His ex-wife, now 60, still denies the charge, saying she was coerced into
taking the points and is standing trial alone.
Opening the case at Southwark Crown Court today, prosecutor Andrew Edis QC
said the points-swapping only came to light years later when Pryce told
several newspapers to ruin her cheating husband’s career.
Addressing the jury of eight women and four men, Mr Edis said: “It became
public because Ms Pryce told a newspaper, actually more than one.
“And she told the newspapers because by then, 2010/11, she had learned that Mr
Huhne had been having an affair with somebody else.
“And he, Mr Huhne, had told her, in a way which you may learn something about,
that he did not want to be with Ms Pryce any more, it was over.”
He said the ending of a long marriage in circumstances like that would
undoubtedly be “a cause of immense distress to any wife, or husband come to
that”.
“And there is no doubt at all that Ms Pryce was distressed.
“But there is also no doubt at all that she was not only distressed but
extremely angry and she wanted some revenge.
“And her revenge was in the end to pass the story about the 2003 crime to the
newspapers so that it would be published in the end, that it would destroy
her husband’s career.”
The jury was told of an email exchange dating from March 1, 2011, between
Pryce and Sunday Times journalist Isabel Oakeshott in which they discussed
how to publicise the speeding points affair.
Ms Oakeshott suggested they do a number of pieces including a news features
and a story at the front of the paper, writing: “This is what I strongly
recommend you do, given your dual objectives of bringing Chris down…
without seriously damaging your own reputation in the process.”
In a later email, she warned Pryce of the danger of facing criminal
proceedings if she did reveal that she took his penalty points, and that the
newspaper was discussing the issue.
Pryce wrote: “I would need some reassurance that it would bring Chris down.”
Later she added: “I have no doubt, as I really want to nail him. More than
ever actually, and I would love to do it soon.”
Ms Oakeshott later replied: “The bottom line is that this story will bring
Chris down if you are prepared to go on the record, with the minor risk this
carries.
“I think you can make yourself out to be very much the honourable one, saying
it has very much been on your conscience ever since, saying you knew it was
wrong but you were bullied into it.”
Mr Edis said the jury will hear four phone calls between Pryce and Huhne that
were recorded with the help of the Sunday Times in a “set-up” to get him to
admit the points swapping and prove the story.
The plan was that Pryce would phone her ex-husband, get him to admit the
allegation, and it would all be recorded as evidence.
“It is, in fact, a set-up,” Mr Edis told the court. “Mr Huhne did not fall for
it.
“He denied repeatedly the suggestion that he had asked her to take any points
and said that it was all ridiculous.
“We know from what happened yesterday that when he was denying it he was doing
that for the benefit, not of the truth, but for whoever might be listening
to the telephone call.”
He said the calls would show Pryce was “angry, persistent” and “assertive”,
saying: “And of course the situation is wholly different from what it was in
2003.
“We know that the marriage is at an end, it’s come to an end in horrible
circumstances, and the ties of loyalty no longer exist.”
Mr Edis told jurors that although it had not gone smoothly throughout,
ultimately Pryce’s plan had worked.
“Mr Huhne was charged, he did resign, yesterday he pleaded guilty, he is not a
Cabinet minister any more. So the plan worked,” he said.
He said the jury would have to decide whether Pryce, an economist and senior
civil servant, was “weak-minded” and forced into accepting the points by
Huhne or was a “strong-minded and manipulative” woman acting of her own free
will.
“Focus not on whether she was persuaded but whether she was in a situation
where she had a choice,” he said.
He added: “Her revenge in the end was to pass the story of the 2003 points to
the newspaper so they would publish it and destroy his political career.
“It was Pryce’s plan that she would get her revenge by putting an end to all
that.
“She would publish what she and he had done together without complaint in 2003
so she would get her revenge for the undoubtedly very bad way he had treated
her.”
Huhne’s attempts to have the case against him thrown out can now be reported
after he yesterday admitted lying, despite last week telling the court he
was not guilty.
The former energy secretary, 58, was granted unconditional bail until
sentencing but was warned to have “no illusions whatsoever” about the
sentence he could receive.
Perverting the course of justice carries a maximum life prison term – but the
average is around 10 months.
Allegations over the point-swapping arose in 2011 after Huhne left Pryce the
previous year for PR adviser Carina Trimingham, ending the couple’s 26-year
marriage.
After pleading guilty yesterday, Huhne immediately announced he was standing
down from parliament – sparking a by-election in marginal Eastleigh that
could test coalition relations to the limit.
Speaking outside court, he said: “Having taken responsibility for
something that happened 10 years ago, the only proper course of action for
me is to resign my Eastleigh seat in Parliament, which I will do very
shortly.”
Yesterday, it was revealed that Huhne’s son had blasted his father during his
speeding ban investigation, raging: “You piece of s*** … don’t contact me
again”.
Bombshell text messages read in court between Peter Huhne, 20, and his former
Lib Dem MP father show their relationship had become toxic in the run-up to
the trial.
A further message featured the chilling threat: “Do I have to contact the
police and tell them what you told me?”
In the string of explosive messages, revealed for the first time yesterday,
furious Peter, then 18, hints at his father’s dishonesty.
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said he was “shocked and saddened” by
Huhne’s resignation, but that Huhne was doing the right thing by quitting
the Commons.
He also voluntarily removed himself from the Privy Council, giving up the
Right Honourable title granted to senior politicians.
But there was no sign of him handing back the £17,000 severance payment he
received when he quit the Cabinet to fight the charges last February.
The developments sent shockwaves through Westminster, where Huhne had been
telling friends he expected to be cleared.