Vicky Pryce Jury Fails To Reach A Verdict

Chris Huhne's ex-wife is facing a new trial after a jury failed to decide whether she had perverted the course of justice.

Vicky Pryce, 60, is due to be tried again next week over claims that she took her husband's speeding points after a driving offence in 2003.

Jurors at Southwark Crown Court had been deliberating for four days before telling the judge they could not reach a verdict.

The panel of eight women and four men were discharged after saying it was "highly unlikely" they could even make a majority decision.

The move came after the jurors had put 10 questions to the judge as they weighed up the evidence.

They included whether they could reach a verdict based "on a reason that was not presented in court and has no facts or evidence to support it".

During the trial, economist and mother-of-five Ms Pryce claimed she was forced to take the points by Huhne, 58, because he wanted to avoid prosecution.

The politician had repeatedly lied about who was driving, but finally admitted deceiving the police just as her trial was due to start.

He has been warned he faces jail and will be sentenced once the case against his ex-wife is concluded.

Huhne's BMW was clocked speeding on the way back from Stansted Airport in 2003 as the then-MEP travelled back from Strasbourg.

He already had nine points on his licence and risked being banned.

In fact, he lost his licence anyway later that year after being caught on his mobile phone at the wheel.

Huhne was still nominated as Lib Dem candidate in Eastleigh and won the seat in 2005, holding it again in 2010.

The allegation about a points swap became public in May 2011 only after the politician, who was by then a Cabinet minister, left his wife of 26 years for another woman.