Vicky Price

Its "perverting the course of justice" that is so serious a crime and why they are going to prison.

Sorry joan didn't mean to plagiarise! It is clearly a case of great minds thinking alike

They'll be out in a few weeks, on electronic tags and supervised by G4S!

gracesmum isn't the only one who thinks it would be great to see them share a cell - I posted the same march 5th:

^Fri 08-Mar-13 03:57:14

You know what the best punishment would be? Make them share a cell!!!

Half of me feels sorry for them both, the other half just sees them as the rich and shameless getting what they deserve.

The story is a true tragedy in the Shakespearean sense, the way they've both been brought down by their own character failings.^

If only!!

Worrying imagination gracesmum

Bit punitive but that's the chance they took, eh?

If only they had unisex prisons, gm!

Vicious!

Have I said this already? If so I apologise, but I'll say it anyway! I think they should be made to serve their sentences together in the same cell!

I doubt they'll spend more than about 3 months inside....

Prison diaries - heaven spare us!

So they got what they deserved and let's hope we hear no more of them. I won't be buying their prison diaries.

Janea that particular stretch of road probably finances Northumbria police it is notorious. There is also a stretch of road towards Edinburgh which supports the police with its discreet change of speed.

It seems a pity that people who have money, perhaps over a certain level, can't be charged for their 'board and lodging' whilst in prison.

I have no sympathy for either of them. She must have known about the previous points he had accumulated on his licence and therefore known that by taking these points she was condoning his behaviour and possibly encouraging him to continue to speed. As a mother I would have expected her to be more concerned about the damage he might do while speeding.

I do think it would be a waste of our money to imprison them and think we should be able to come up with a punishment which would hurt them more than prison. After all they are not being locked up for our safety. I would take away both their driving licences for 2 years and give them a very dirty and painful community service job for the maximum number of hours the law allows as well as a huge fine. Of course none of this may be possible within the current legal system.

I was misunderstood when I described the transfer of speeding points as a relatively trivial offence. I did not mean the offence itself was trivial but that it was trivial compared with the offence that the Huhnes were actually charged with, that of 'perverting the course of justice'.

Like it or not this crime, because it undermines the whole rule of law that governs and protects every citizen is treated as a very serious crime indeed and compared with the underlying crimes that normally lead to charges of PTCOJ, such as providing a false alibi for a murderer or rapist so that they can avoid arrest or doing anything that enables a serial abuser, physical or sexual from being identified and prosecuted, for example, speeding on an empty motorway late at night is not a serious offence.

No, I'm just pointing out that it is a potentially serious offence in itself, repeated speeding and the PTCOJ thing is not inconsequential.

Jess Lots of us may break the speed limit from time to time
It's sometimes easily done -there is a particularly pernicious stretch of road in Woolsington in Newcastle where the limit ranges between 30,40 and 70 several times over about a mile - but that doesn't mean we would also pervert the course of justice by lying about who was in the driving seat.......

Nanaej

But when we've practised for a while, how vastly we improve our style!

A driver is an habitual speeder. He fails to learn, even when he has lots of points, and then he finally gets caught again. This man should have his licence withdrawn to give him time to reflect on his dangerous behaviour. Helping him to continue dangerous behaviour by lying is not a good idea. Speeding is not always a victimless crime - it can kill and maim. So why should we not think taking the points is that serious...? Maybe because we are all (well lots of us) guilty of breaking the speed limit from time to time?

Yes, it is always better to behave ethically, because no amount of money can make up for lost peace of mind.

The Huhnes have not been convicted of swapping speeding points. They have been convicted of perverting the course of justice. This is a very serious offence, regardless of the relative triviality of the actions that, in their case, led to the crime. Those found guilty of PTCOJ are rightly sent to prison. There is no reason to think that their sentence will be any different from anybody elses who commits this crime, although an argument could be made that given the education they had and professions they were in, they were better placed than many other people to realise the seriousness nature of the crime they were committing.

Some years ago I was asked to fill in a legal form incorrectly which I would not do and one of the reasons I would not do it was because I knew that do so was a crime and if found out I would be prosecuted, end up with a criminal record and probably a prison sentence, and no, it was not DH or any member of my family who asked me to do this and I actually sympathetically understood why the request had been made.

People who are convicted of perverting justice rarely avoid prison. She's likely to get about 3 months, and be out in 6 weeks. That's if the judge doesn't take umbrage about the way she has tried to manipulate things, and the failure to plead guilty at the earliest opportunity. She's at risk of getting a higher sentence, but I would bet on her lawyer putting in an immediate appeal against length of sentence if she does.

I feel a custodial sentence is harsh. If they had not been a high profile couple I am not sure prison would be considered.

I think community service more appropriate and /or a heavy fine. Really think we need weekend prison: report in at 6:00 p.m. on a Friday and released 7:30 Monday a.m. & do community service /training whilst in custody. No mobiles/ ipads etc. That way people might maintain any work they have which in terms of re-offending is a good thing.

At the time of the 'points taking' the children were still quite young.. maybe she thought the publicity that would have ensued would harm her kids so agreed to take the points!

'O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive!'

I think if my own husband decided he preferred someone else I would not want anything more to do with him, in any way. I would see the kids were OK, and the assets were divided fairly, and then walk away from him.

BUT, it hasn't happened so I'm not really one to say. I do know that revenge is not in my nature, nor is self-destruction.

She was a bit of a high flyer herself so maybe it was ego v ego.

I'm pretty certain I would never want to know either of them personally.