Former MP Chris Huhne and his economist ex-wife Vicky Pryce and have been sentenced to eight months in prison for perverting the course of justice.
Greek-born Pryce, and Huhne, the former Liberal Democrat MP for Eastleigh, both appeared at Southwark Crown Court to receive their sentences this afternoon.
Mr Justice Sweeney told the pair:
“No doubt you thought that you would get away with it. You did get away with it, for some eight years.”
The judge also told Huhne:
“You have fallen from a great height.”
He added:
“To the extent that anything good has come out of this whole process, it is that now, finally, you have both been brought to justice for your joint offence. Any element of tragedy is entirely your own fault.”
Huhne, who pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice last month, is expected to spend his first night in prison at HMP Wandsworth, according to a Telegraph report. Pryce, meanwhile, is reported to be on her way to HM Prison Holloway.
Neither reacted when the sentence was handed down.
Pryce was convicted on Thursday of last week following a retrial. She had pleaded ‘marital coercion’ in her defence, claiming that the former Secretary of State for Energy had coerced her into accepting driving licence penalty points he incurred while speeding in 1993.
The pair were divorced after 26 years together in 2010.
Pryce received a red rose from a well-wisher as she entered the court, while protestors with placards reading ‘Support Vicky Pryce’ waited outside the court.
Earlier today, Huhne told the Guardian:
“I very much hoped that she was not going to be found guilty, for the sake of the family.”