Huhne 'had to wear make-up after wife gave him black eye': Neighbour claims disgraced MP was punched over affair



Ex-wife Vicky Pryce allegedly made the claims to Constance Briscoe

Court hears she confided in her after her marriage to Huhne ended in 2010

Briscoe, a part-time judge, is on trial accused of lying to police about how she helped Pryce reveal that Huhne asked her to take his speeding points

Briscoe said Huhne had to 'cover up' the damage for TV interviews



Shamed former energy secretary Chris Huhne had to wear make-up to disguise a black eye his ex-wife gave him, it was claimed yesterday.

Vicky Pryce repeatedly punched the then Lib Dem minister and dragged him through a window during an attack at their £2.5 million townhouse, a neighbour said.

Constance Briscoe said Miss Pryce, a former government economic adviser, was devastated because Mr Huhne had left her for his bisexual aide Carina Trimingham.

'Punch-up': According to Constance Briscoe, Vicky Pryce, left, attacked Chris Huhne, right, in their £2.5million townhouse in Clapham, south west London



'Relations with men': Chris Huhne, pictured right at the 2010 general election, allegedly gave Vicky Pryce, left, an STD. Pryce also allegedly said their marriage collapsed because he had had gay relationships in the past

She said the senior economist had likened Mr Huhne’s lover to a man, and had claimed he had had gay relationships. She added: ‘Vicky’s attitude was that Chris had run off with a man.’

Miss Pryce wanted to give a ‘tell-all’ newspaper interview, former confidante Briscoe said.

Briscoe, Britain’s best known black female judge, was giving evidence in her own defence against accusations she lied to police over her role in the speeding points scandal which led to both Mr Huhne and Miss Pryce being jailed.

She told Southwark Crown Court she had believed Miss Pryce should go ahead with the newspaper interview because it would be ‘good therapy’.

Briscoe, 56, said Miss Pryce had told her in 2003 that Mr Huhne had asked her to take his speeding points to avoid losing his driving licence.

She said: ‘At that time I thought it was in the public interest for Chris to have to give an account of himself. I felt he was a bit of a hypocrite.

Claims: Constance Briscoe, pictured left at court today, revealed details of alleged conversations with Vicky Pryce, right



‘He was a politician playing fast and loose with speeding points. He was expressing ambitions to become deputy prime minister and he was telling lies.’

Briscoe, a former barrister and part-time judge, said she knew Miss Pryce because they lived on the same affluent Georgian estate in Clapham, south west London, and their children were friends.

She told the court that Miss Pryce did not mention the speeding points again until after their marriage break-up in 2010.

Following the split, Briscoe said the whole street witnessed a furious argument between the pair, dubbed the ‘double punch-up black eye make-up episode’.

Affair: Hune, right, left Vicky Pryce for his bisexual lover Carina Trimingham, left

She said: ‘Chris had come back to the crescent to see Vicky and she punched him and blackened his eye. I saw it, the whole of the crescent saw it. She dragged him through a window and punched him a few times in the eye.

‘Vicky had given him quite a few good punches and it had landed well. He had to cover it up because he was on telly all the time.

'Family values': Briscoe told jurors that Pryce was angry with Chris Huhne for conducting a campaign based on family values while having an affair. Pictured is an election campaign leaflet showing a Huhne family photograph

‘When Chris had driven round to go back out [of the crescent], she punched him again – that was the double punch-up.’

It was not made clear if Briscoe was referring to Miss Pryce dragging Mr Huhne through a car window, although at least one punch appears to have been thrown while he was driving. Briscoe said Miss Pryce had wanted to speak to a journalist from The Mail on Sunday but believed Mr Huhne had bugged their home and hacked her emails, so asked her neighbour to act as her intermediary.

The lawyer said she forwarded emails and messages between the Greek-born economist and journalists Andrew Alderson and Dave Dillon.

Briscoe, a former Samaritans counsellor, added: ‘Apart from the breakdown of the relationship and blaming Chris Huhne’s sexuality, she wanted to discuss the fact that Chris had had relationships with men before they got married and all of that.

‘She also wanted to discuss when he had infected her with a sexually transmitted disease when he was a Euro MEP, and when she had confronted him with that, he said he got it from clean sheets in a hotel.’

Briscoe told the jury she had acted as an intermediary in discussions with The Mail on Sunday, but was not involved with Miss Pryce’s dealings with The Sunday Times.

A police investigation was launched in 2011 after both newspapers ran allegations that Mr Huhne had asked a family member to take his speeding points, and the subsequent scandal led to the MP’s resignation.

Mr Huhne and Miss Pryce were each jailed for eight months last year.

Briscoe is charged with perverting the course of justice by making ‘inaccurate and misleading’ witness statements, and of falsifying a document. She denies the allegations, but has been suspended from the judiciary since her arrest in 2012.