Woman judge who lied to police over Huhne case jailed
A DISGRACED judge was accused of arrogance yesterday as she was jailed for lying to police in the Chris Huhne scandal.
Constance Briscoe, 56, was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment for trying to cover up her role in a secret vendetta against the former Cabinet minister.
Mr Justice Baker said the QC, Huhne and his ex-wife Vicky Pryce considered that ‘respect for the law was for others’ and their conduct ‘strikes at the heart of our much-cherished system of criminal justice’.
Briscoe is the first judge in living memory to be convicted of such a serious offence and her imprisonment is the final chapter in an extraordinary saga.
The Old Bailey had heard that Briscoe – one of the first black women to sit as a judge in the UK – helped Pryce reveal to newspapers information about Huhne’s swapping of speeding points after the couple split in 2010. The judge said she had been ‘motivated’, as was Pryce, by a
‘Fabricating evidence’
desire to ensure the Lib Dem’s downfall, but sought to hide her ‘true motive and role’ in the exposure of the story.
‘You then compounded your position by deliberately fabricating evidence when you thought that you might be exposed,’ said Mr Justice Baker.
‘If there is a common thread between you all, then I regret that it is one of arrogance by educated individuals who considered that respect for the law was for others. You were motivated, as was Vicky Pryce, by a joint desire to ensure the downfall of Chris Huhne.
‘I am sure you realise that such conduct strikes at the heart of our muchcherished system of criminal justice.’
Briscoe, a mother-of-two from Clapham, South London was charged with giving police two inaccurate statements, producing an altered copy of a statement that she claimed was the
If there is a common thread between you all [Briscoe, Huhne and Pryce], then I regret that it is one of arrogance by educated individuals who considered that respect for the law was for others
correct version, and deliberately getting a document expert to view the wrong version of her witness statement. She denied the offences.
Her corruption was exposed just before she was presented as an unimpeachable star witness at last year’s trial of Huhne, 59, and Pryce, 61.
Her jail term is twice the length imposed on both Huhne and Pryce – who were convicted of perverting the course of justice. After spending 30
Mr Justice Baker yesterday
years working as a part-time judge and criminal lawyer, Briscoe will be kicked out of the judiciary.
It was also revealed this week that she is under criminal investigation over claims she fraudulently obtained documents to defend the libel suit brought by her mother over her ‘misery memoir’.
Mr Justice Baker said Briscoe’s conviction was a ‘personal tragedy’ for a woman who had been ‘something of a role model’.