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Regina v Christopher Huhne and Vasiliki Pryce[n 1] is the prosecution of the former British Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Chris HuhneMP, and his former wife, Vicky Pryce, the former Head of the Government Economic Service, for perverting the course of justice, contrary to common law. Huhne became the first Cabinet minister in British history to resign as a consequence of criminal proceedings. On 4 February 2013, Huhne was convicted after changing their plea to guilty. The trial of Pryce began on the following day, lasting until 20 February 2013 when the jury were discharged by the judge. A re-trial began on 25 February 2013 and led to the conviction of Pryce on 7 March 2013.
In May 2011, Pryce stated that she was aware that Huhne had "pressured people to take his driving licence penalty points". Huhne emphatically denied these allegations. They amounted to the serious criminal offence of perverting the course of justice, contrary to common law.[3]Labour MP Simon Danczuk made a criminal complaint to Essex Police in respect of the allegations.[4] The main allegation was that Huhne had evaded his own penalty points by causing Pryce dishonestly to accept three penalty points which he had incurred while driving his BMW car through a speed camera between Stansted Airport and London on the evening of 12 March 2003.[5] During interviews with Essex Police, Huhne exercised his right to remain silent.[citation needed] A decision whether to institute proceedings for the alleged offences was delayed for eight months while The Sunday Times made an application for judicial review of an order of the Crown Court at Chelmsford that the Crown Prosecution Service had obtained, which obliged the newspaper to disclose e-mails between Pryce and its political editor, Isabel Oakeshott,[6] in which the case was discussed. The application was withdrawn on 20 January 2012.[citation needed] In December 2011, newspapers reported that Essex Police had recommended to the CPS that both Huhne and Pryce be prosecuted for the alleged offences.[citation needed]
Criminal proceedings
Preliminary hearings
On 3 February 2012, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir StarmerQC announced that there was sufficient evidence to bring charges against Huhne and Pryce.[7] Huhne immediately resigned as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, becoming the first cabinet minister in British history to resign as a result of criminal proceedings.[citation needed] The pair were summoned to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 16 February 2012, at which (by right) neither defendant indicated a plea. They were each granted unconditional bail. The case was sent for trial at the Crown Court at Southwark, and an initial hearing was fixed for 2 March 2012.[8]
Between 21 March 2003 and 21 May 2003, [he] ... intended to pervert the course of public justice, by doing an act in that he, during the course of an investigation into an offence of driving a vehicle in excess speed, ... submitted information to the investigation officer that Vicky Pryce had been the driver, enabling her to admit responsibility for the offence and causing her licence to be endorsed with three penalty points.
Between 12 March 2003 and 21 May 2003, [she] ... intended to pervert the course of justice by committing an act during the course of an investigation into an offence of driving a vehicle in excess speed, [in which she] submitted information to the investigating authorities that ... [she was] the driver of the vehicle, causing ... [her] licence to be endorsed with three penalty points.
Crown Court
On 2 March 2012, Mr Justice Saunders scheduled a trial for two weeks in October 2012, and extended the defendants' unconditional bail until a plea and case management hearing, which was held on 1 June 2012 at the Crown Court at Southwark before Mr Justice Saunders.[10] At that hearing, Pryce entered a plea of not guilty on the basis that she acted under the marital coercion of Huhne. Huhne did not enter a plea, and his arraignment was adjourned pending the determination of an application to have the indictment quashed. The defendants' unconditional bail was extended until the opening of the trial, scheduled for 2 October 2012.[11] A series of hearings during the week beginning 1 October 2012 took place at the Crown Court at Southwark before Mr Justice Sweeney. An order was made under the Contempt of Court Act 1981, restricting what could be reported. On 5 October 2012, the trial was adjourned until 14 January 2013 for legal reasons, which were not disclosed.[12][13] A further pre-trial hearing was held at the Crown Court at Reading on 3 December 2012.[14] On 28 January 2013, Huhne's applications to dismiss the charges against him for lack of evidence and to stay the indictment as an abuse of the process of the court were refused by Mr Justice Sweeney, who ruled that there was a case to answer.[15] He was arraigned and pleaded "not guilty" to the indictment. A new trial date was set down for 4 February 2013.[16]
The trial judge was Mr Justice Sweeney. Counsel for Crown was Andrew Edis QC.[17] Huhne's counsel was John Kelsey-Fry QC, while Pryce was advised by solicitor Robert Brown and counsel in the case was Julian Knowles QC.[9][18][19]
At the hearing on 4 February 2013 at the Crown Court at Southwark, Huhne pleaded guilty on re-arraignment, and subsequently announced that he would resign as an MP by taking the appointment of the Chiltern Hundreds. He also resigned from the Privy Council before he could be expelled, losing the style "The Right Honourable".[20] He was remanded on unconditional bail until his sentencing.[21] The trial of Pryce for perverting the course of justice began on 5 February 2013. She admitted taking Huhne's penalty points in evidence, but claimed that she had been coerced into doing so by her former husband.[22]
On 20 February 2013, after the jury was unable to reach a verdict, the judge discharged the jury and ordered a retrial for Pryce.[23] Previously, the jury had asked questions of the judge, including clarifications of "reasonable doubt" and whether they were permitted to come to a verdict "based on a reason that was not presented in court".[24] The judge commented that the jury had an "absolutely fundamental deficit in understanding".[25] The retrial ended on 7 March with Pryce's conviction by a unanimous jury, and sentencing was adjourned.[26]
In February 2013, at the trial of Vicky Pryce it was revealed that barrister and part-time recorder Constance Briscoe had been arrested in relation to statements she had made to police that she had not had any involvement with the leaking of the driving licence points-swapping story. Briscoe was arrested on 6 October 2012 as a result of a police investigation. No announcement had been made at that time as to the nature of the allegations against her.[27][28][29] Prosecutor Andrew Edis told the jury that Briscoe and Pryce had "started it together by approaching a man called Andrew Alderson (a journalist working for the Mail on Sunday)", falsely claiming that one of Huhne's aides, Jo White, took points for him in 2003. According to Edis, Briscoe was a neighbour and friend of Pryce and that the "two of them appear to have cooked up a plan" to bring about Huhne's downfall.[28][29] On 1 May 2014, Briscoe was found guilty at the Old Bailey of three charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice, by lying to police, falsifying a witness statement, and providing a false document to an expert witness. On 2 May 2014, she was jailed for 16 months.[30]
On 11 March 2013, Huhne and Pryce were each jailed for eight months.[5]
In January 2014, the government announced the defence of marital coercion would be abolished,[31] which was done in May of that year.
Release
Huhne and Pryce were both released from prison on 13 May 2013 subject to electronic tagging.[32] Huhne is working in sustainable energy.[33] Pryce has written a book based on her prison experience entitled Prisonomics, analysing women's prisons from the economic point of view.[34]Royalties will be donated to Working Chance, a charity helping former women prisoners find work.[35]
Notes and references
Notes
↑ These are the names as they appear on the indictment, no. T20127076
Perverting the course of justice is an offence committed when a person prevents justice from being served on themselves or on another party. In England and Wales it is a common law offence, carrying a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Statutory versions of the offence exist in Australia, Canada, Fiji, Ireland, and New Zealand. The Scottish equivalent is defeating the ends of justice, although charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice are also raised in Scotland, while the South African counterpart is defeating or obstructing the course of justice. A similar concept, obstruction of justice, exists in United States law.
Christopher Murray Paul Huhne is a British energy and climate change consultant, and former journalist, business economist and politician who was the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Eastleigh from 2005 to 2013 and the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change from 2010 to 2012. He is currently chair of the UK green gas association – the Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association – and senior adviser to the World Biogas Association. He also advises companies on his particular interest in renewable technologies that can provide back up for intermittent energy sources like wind and solar.
Constance Briscoe is a former barrister, and was one of the first black female recorders in England and Wales. In May 2014, she was jailed for three counts of doing an act tending to pervert the course of justice in R v Huhne and Pryce. She was disbarred and removed from the judiciary.
Nicholas Freeman is an English lawyer best known for specialising in the defence of traffic and speeding cases as well as road safety campaigning. He is the owner of Manchester-based legal practice Freeman & Co.
Jamshid Ali Dizaei is a former Commander in London's Metropolitan Police Service, Iranian-born with dual nationality, and formerly one of Britain's more senior Muslim police officers. Dizaei came to prominence as a result of his outspoken views on racial discrimination in the London Metropolitan Police and various allegations of malpractice on his part. He had received advancement after his criticism of the force following his claims of racism. He was a frequent media commentator on a variety of issues, mainly concerned with ethnicity and religion. In April 2008, he was promoted to Commander, responsible for West London.
Sir Nigel Hamilton Sweeney KC, styled The Hon. Mr Justice Sweeney, is a former High Court judge. He retired on 18 March 2023.
On 19 February 2008, nine-year-old Shannon Louise Matthews was reported missing in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, England. The search for her became a major missing person police operation which was compared to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Shannon was found alive and well on 14 March 2008 at a Batley Carr house belonging to 39-year-old Michael Donovan. Donovan was the uncle of Craig Meehan, the boyfriend of the kidnapped girl's mother, Karen Matthews.
Marital coercion was a defence to most crimes under English criminal law and under the criminal law of Northern Ireland. It is similar to duress. It was abolished in England and Wales by section 177 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, which came into force on 13 May 2014. The abolition does not apply in relation to offences committed before that date.
Section 63 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 is a law in the United Kingdom criminalising possession of what it refers to as "extreme pornographic images". The law came into force on 26 January 2009. The legislation was brought in following the murder of Jane Longhurst by a man who was said at the time of his trial to have had "extreme pornography" in his possession at the time of the death. The law has been more widely used than originally predicted, raising concerns as to whether the legislation is being used for prosecutions beyond the scope originally envisaged by parliament.
Vasiliki "Vicky" Pryce is a Greek-born British economist and a former Joint Head of the United Kingdom's Government Economic Service.
Sir John Henry Boulton Saunders, formerly styled The Hon. Mr Justice Saunders, is a retired High Court Judge of the King's Bench Division.
Sir Andrew Jeremy Coulter Edis PC, styled The Rt Hon. Lord Justice Edis, is a Lord Justice of Appeal, serving as the Senior Presiding Judge having previously served as a High Court Judge.
Charles Patrick Evelyn Brooks is a British socialite, newspaper columnist, racehorse trainer and former amateur jockey.
April Sue-Lyn Jones was a Welsh child from Machynlleth, Powys, who disappeared on 1 October 2012, after being sighted getting into a vehicle near her home. The disappearance of April Jones, aged five, generated a large amount of national and international press coverage. Mark Bridger was convicted of April’s murder.
Events from 2013 in England
Fiona Oluyinka Onasanya is a former British politician and solicitor. She was elected as a Labour Party MP in the 2017 United Kingdom general election for the constituency of Peterborough and was removed from that office in 2019 following a successfully recall petition triggered by her convicition of perverting the course of justice.
Oliver Edwin James Glasgow KC is a barrister who specialises in criminal law. Since November 2015 he served as one of the Senior Treasury Counsel at the Old Bailey, prosecuting serious criminal cases. On 1 January 2021 he was appointed First Senior Treasury Counsel by the Attorney General, Suella Braverman KC.
2 Hare Court is a barristers' chambers specialising in criminal and regulatory law, located in the Inner Temple, one of the four Inns of court. Established in the 1967, It employs 77 barristers, including 23 King's Counsel and several former prosecutors, including those who have acted as First Senior, Senior and Junior Treasury Counsel – barristers appointed by the Attorney General to prosecute the most serious and complex criminal cases to come before the courts.
Rania Alayed was a 25-year-old mother-of-three murdered by her husband in June 2013, in Salford, Greater Manchester, England. Greater Manchester Police (GMP) Chief Detective Inspector Bill Reade described this as an honour killing, and the prosecutors stated she was murdered for trying to achieve independence from her husband and undergoing westernisation. Alayed's remains have never been found.
The British prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, practised law before his political career began in 2015. Since he became a barrister in 1987, he has mostly dealt with criminal defence work on human rights matters. In 2008, he became Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and Head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), holding these positions until 2013.
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