Huhne's ex wife Vicky Pryce was 'worn down by his badgering'

 
On trial: Chris Huhne's ex-wife Vicky Pryce
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Justin Davenport13 February 2013
WEST END FINAL

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Vicky Pryce was no “superwoman” but someone with frailties who was forced to take speeding points for her then husband, a court heard today.

Pryce, 60, was nominated as the driver of former Lib-Dem energy secretary Chris Huhne’s BMW behind her back after a speed camera caught him driving back to London from Stansted airport, Southwark crown court heard.

Pryce, who denies perverting the course of justice, using a rare defence of marital coercion, was worn down by Huhne’s “badgering and all the hassle” until she felt she had no choice, said Julian Knowles, QC, defending.

Huhne admitted the same charge last week and quit as an MP.

Pryce’s trial has heard she claimed Huhne nominated her to take the points in 2003. Prosecutor Andrew Edis QC has claimed Pryce, an economist, was not coerced, or someone who could be reduced to a “quivering jelly”.

But today Mr Knowles said Pryce had great integrity, and the argument that she was a “bloodless, emotionless career woman” who could stand up to anything was wrong.

The trial continues.

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