Former cabinet minister Chris Huhne and his ex-wife Vicky Pryce are to be sentenced on Monday for perverting the course of justice, with both expected to be jailed over the scandal that ended his political career.
A court found Pryce, 60, guilty last week over an incident in which she took speeding points on her driving licence in place of her then-husband Huhne, 58, in 2003, rejecting her defence that she was coerced into the lie.
Former energy secretary Huhne pleaded guilty last month after months of denying that the offence had taken place.
The maximum sentence for perverting the course of justice is life, but the average sentence is about 10 months.
Judge Nigel Sweeney has told both Huhne and Pryce to be under no illusions about the punishment they face when they appear at Southwark Crown Court from 1400 GMT on Monday.
Huhne is also likely to face a facing a large legal bill, as the Crown Prosecution Service said it would try to claim back the costs of his “sustained challenges” to the prosecution.
The case came to light when Pryce spoke to newspapers about the speeding points following her high-profile breakup with Huhne in June 2010, in which he left her for aide Carina Trimingham.
The trial exposed details of their private life including a claim from Pryce, a mother of five, that Huhne had pressured her to have an abortion during their 26-year marriage.
Huhne was narrowly defeated by Nick Clegg, now deputy prime minister, in a 2007 Liberal Democrat leadership battle, and Pryce told a Sunday Times journalist in 2011 that she wanted to prevent him from having another chance at the party leadership.
The battle has also forced Clegg and Business Secretary Vince Cable to deny they knew about Pryce taking Huhne’s points before it became public, as emails from Pryce implied.
The party triumphed in the Eastleigh by-election to replace Huhne, with their candidate Mike Thornton winning a slim majority of 1,771 votes and senior coalition partners the Conservatives coming in third.
Part-time judge Constance Briscoe, a close friend of Pryce and author of a best-selling memoir of her childhood, “Ugly”, was arrested in the case in October and may now face charges.
She was held over allegations that she lied to police over the story when she denied having helped Pryce leak it to the press.
Huhne and Pryce to be sentenced
