Chris Huhne and Vicky Pryce both jailed for eight months

Former Energy minister Chris Huhne and his former wife Vicky Pryce have each been jailed for eight months for lying about a speeding offence committed ten years ago.

The pair, sentenced at Southwark Crown Court today (11 March), did not look at each other and remained passive as first Huhne and then Pryce learned the result of the court case.

Huhne received a 10% reduction in his sentence because he pleaded guilty.

Pryce had claimed she had taken the points for her then husband because of marital coercion, but was convicted last week. The judge, Mr Justice Sweeney, said the pair both decided together not to tell the truth.

During Pryce's trial, the prosecution alleged that she had chosen to take the points for Huhne but later plotted to expose him after he revealed he was having an affair with an aide and ended the couple's 26-year marriage.

The judge went on to say that Pryce's decision to tell newspapers she had taken the points was a "dangerous weapon" because they had both broken the law. He also said that point-swapping was "all too easy to do" but it amounts to the serious criminal offence of perverting the course of justice.

Huhne's girlfriend Carina Trimingham - who he left Pryce for back in 2010 - watched from the public gallery as the jail terms were announced.

Huhne had battled for months to have the case thrown out, but finally admitted his guilt just as the joint trial was due to start last month.