Disgraced former Cabinet minister Chris Huhne repeated apologies for his wrongdoing yesterday, saying that prison had been a "humbling and sobering experience".
The 58-year-old was released from jail after serving 62 days of an eight-month sentence for perverting the course of justice.
The former energy secretary arrived back at the home he shares with his partner, PR adviser Carina Trimingham, in Clerkenwell, central London, after being driven out of Leyhill Prison in Gloucestershire.
Speaking outside the couple's flat, with Ms Trimingham by his side, Mr Huhne told gathered reporters to "calm down", before saying: "I would just like to say once again, as you know from the night I was sentenced, I said that I was very sorry for what I had done. It has been a humbling and sobering experience.
"I would like to thank all of those who have written to me –hundreds of letters that I have had – and all my family and friends who stood by me."
Huhne was jailed for eight months in March, alongside ex-wife Vicky Pryce, after finally admitting passing speeding points to her a decade ago.
The shamed former MP for Eastleigh in Hampshire, who once aspired to be Liberal Democrat leader, had denied the allegations and battled for the case to be thrown out, before finally pleading guilty to perverting the course of justice on the first day of their trial in February.
Both he and his former wife were released yesterday, but will have to wear electronic tags.
Earlier, Pryce, who returned to her home in Clapham, south-west London, after being released from East Sutton Park Prison, near Maidstone, Kent, told reporters the first thing she planned to do was have a cup of coffee.
Her solicitor Robert Brown read a statement, in which she said she was pleased to be home and looking forward to returning to her career as an economist.
"Vicky Pryce is very pleased to be home and back with her family," he said.
Pryce has ideas to write about the economics of the criminal justice system, combining her economic expertise with her experience behind bars, Mr Brown said.
The former couple have yet to find out how much they will have to pay for the cost of their prosecution.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is seeking £100,000 in costs from Huhne, but a costs hearing at Southwark Crown Court was told his legal team had offered just £25,000. The CPS is seeking a total of £48,695.56 from Pryce.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article