Former Cabinet minister Chris Huhne and his ex-wife were both freed from prison today after serving around a quarter of their eight-month sentences for swapping speeding points.
Huhne, a former energy secretary and once-aspiring Liberal Democrat leader, left Leyhill Prison in Gloucestershire by the main entrance in the back seat of a silver Honda, making no attempt to avoid waiting media cameras.
His ex-wife, economist Vicky Pryce, earlier emerged from East Sutton Park Prison near Maidstone, Kent, via a back exit and left with her solicitor Robert Brown, pursued by press photographers who been camped outside the Category D open jail for women and young offenders.
Huhne will return to the London home he shares with PR adviser Carina Trimingham.
The former Eastleigh MP left Pryce in 2010 as his affair with Ms Trimingham was about to be exposed, ending his 26-year marriage to Pryce and leading her to reveal the speeding points swap to newspapers in a bid to “nail” him.
Pryce is expected to return to her home in Clapham, south London. The former couple were each handed eight-month prison sentences on March 11th for perverting the course of justice a decade ago when Pryce took speeding points for her then husband.
Huhne finally pleaded guilty to the offence on the first day of their trial in February after months of staunch denials and several attempts to get the case thrown out, while Pryce was later convicted by a jury after a retrial at Southwark Crown Court when her defence of marital coercion failed.
Both will now have to wear electronic tags, used to enforce either a timed curfew or a place of residence, as a condition of their early release.
For sentences of less than a year, an offender is automatically released after serving half of their sentence.
In addition, offenders serving sentences of between three months and four years, with certain exceptions for violent and sexual offenders, may also be eligible for release on a home detention curfew.
This allows an offender to be released up to 135 days before their automatic release date.
PA