FORMER energy secretary Chris Huhne's ex-wife yesterday denied perverting the course of justice by taking a speeding penalty for her former husband.
Vicky Pryce pleaded not guilty at Southwark Crown Court, where she appeared alongside the former Cabinet minister.
Huhne, 57, did not enter a plea to a similar charge of perverting the course of justice. His formal reading of the criminal complaint was adjourned for an application to dismiss the charge.
It is alleged Huhne, from Dutton Lane, Eastleigh, Hampshire persuaded Pryce to take his penalty points for a speeding offence almost a decade ago.
His ex-wife's defence will be one of marital coercion.A trial is expected to take place in October.
Pryce, 59, from Crescent Grove, Clapham, south London, was listed in court by her Greek forename Vasiliki.
Huhne, who remains the Liberal Democrat MP for Eastleigh in Hampshire, stood down from the Cabinet to fight the charge that he wrongly claimed his wife was driving his car.
The events which led to the charges date to March 2003, when Huhne's car was allegedly caught by a motorway speed camera.
Accusations of impropriety emerged only in 2010, after he admitted an affair with PR adviser Carina Trimingham and ended his 26-year marriage.
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