Chris Huhne, Vicky Pryce and Constance Briscoe sentenced for perverting the course of justice
The former cabinet minister and Secretary of State of BEIS, Chris Huhne and his ex-wife Vicky Pryce have each been jailed for eight months for perverting the course of justice whilst Constance Briscoe, a recorder judge was sentenced to 16 months for lying to police during their investigation.
In the short interview after trial in the Old Bailey, DCI McDermott, the investigating officer said “In her role as a barrister and recorder judge, if anyone should have understood the crucial importance of preserving public justice, it should have been Constance Briscoe”.
Notable citations by Baker J in sentencing Constance Briscoe:
“Constance Briscoe, you are the third individual to have been convicted of criminal offences arising out of a saga whose origin goes back to 2003, when both Chris Huhne and Vicky Pryce lied about who had driven a speeding motor vehicle, and extends to you in 2011, when you sought to hide your true motive and role in the exposure of that story. You then compounded your position by deliberately fabricating evidence when you thought that you might be exposed.
“If there is a common thread between you all, then, from the insights I have had into the character of the each of you during this case, I regret that it is one of arrogance by educated individuals who considered that respect for the law was for others”
Sweeny J in sentencing Huhne and Pryce:
”It must be clearly understood that it amounts to the serious criminal offence of doing acts tending and intended to pervert the course of justice and that, save in the most exceptional circumstances, an immediate custodial sentence must follow“
