The retrial of the ex-wife of disgraced British energy minister Chris Huhne is due to open on Monday after jurors last week failed to reach a verdict over the circumstances in which she took his speeding points.
Vicky Pryce admits taking points on behalf of the former cabinet minister in 2003, but claims he forced her to. She denies perverting the course of justice, claiming marital coercion.
The political career of Huhne, 58, once a leading light in the governing coalition’s junior Liberal Democrat party, is in tatters after he pleaded guilty earlier this month to perverting the course of justice.
His ex-wife Pryce, 60, a Greek-born economist, denied the same charge, claiming Huhne had coerced her into taking his speeding points on her driving licence.
The charges relate to an incident in March 2003 when Huhne’s car was caught by a speed camera as it travelled between Stansted Airport near London and the capital.
Huhne will not be sentenced until after Pryce’s retrial has concluded.
A by-election is being held on Thursday in Huhne’s old Eastleigh constituency in Hampshire, southern England.
Disgraced minister Huhne's ex-wife faces retrial
