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The trial of former Cabinet minister Chris Huhne and his ex-wife over claims she took speeding points for him a decade ago is set to start.

Huhne and former wife Vicky Pryce are both charged with perverting the course of justice relating to a speeding offence in 2003.

It is alleged the former energy secretary, who stood down from the Cabinet after he was charged last year, persuaded her to take the points so he could avoid prosecution. Both Huhne, 58, and economist Pryce, 60, deny the charge.

The events which led to the charges date back to March 2003 when Huhne's car was allegedly caught by a speed camera on the motorway between Stansted Airport in Essex and London.

It is alleged that between March 12 2003 and May 21 2003, Pryce, of Crescent Grove, Clapham, south London, falsely informed police that she was the driver of the car so Huhne could avoid prosecution.

 

The allegations emerged in 2011 after Huhne's 26-year-old marriage to Pryce had ended the previous year when he admitted an affair with PR adviser Carina Trimingham.

Huhne, from Dutton Lane, Eastleigh, Hants, remains the Lib Dem MP for Eastleigh and vowed to fight the charges.

The pair's trial is being held at Southwark Crown Court in London.

The Press Association, photo by DECCgovuk