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Essex police confident of quick progress on Huhne

Michael Crick | 18:56 UK time, Wednesday, 18 May 2011

Cabinet minister Chris Huhne has contacted Essex Police offering to help them
with their inquiry into allegations he tried to evade punishment for speeding,
his spokeswoman said tonight.

Earlier Essex police announced that they are starting to interview key individuals relating to the claims that Mr Huhne asked his then wife Vicky Pryce to accept penalty
points for speeding on his behalf in 2003 - claims Mr Huhne denies.

That presumably also includes Mr Huhne's ex-wife Vicky Pryce, and maybe the anonymous judge cited by the Daily Mail today who was allegedly told by Ms Pryce back in 2004 that she had taken points for Mr Huhne.

For any prosecution to work, though, it will first have to be established that a speeding offence took place.

Essex police say their official records only go back to 2006. And the DVLA in Swansea have also told Newsnight that their records don't go back as far as 2003, when all this is alleged to have happened.

But Essex police are confident they will soon know if a speeding offence did occur.

"I think it will be established whether or not an offence was committed," a police source told me tonight. "There are ways and means of getting things off computers... We are trying to find a data source to identify a particular offence."

Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    the moral of this sorry saga....keep the Ex sweet.....

  • Comment number 2.

    I've just tried finding out how many (currently) serving MP's have a criminal record...but to no avail.

    The records must kept somewhere because if any MP ever wishes to visit a school as part of their constituency/parliamentary duties, they would have to be subject to a criminal records check through the CRB.

    All I could find was a parliamentary register of FoI requests from last year where there was a request to know how many MPs currently have a criminal record.

    Surprise surprise, the the request was 'not held' (ref page 4 - 24/2/2010)


    So, a school caretaker would be prohibited from working in a school if he were to have a criminal record...yet we hold no such barrier for the caretakers of the country!

  • Comment number 3.

    Stevie,
    This is the second facetious post you have made on this subject. Anyone would think you are not taking PC Crick seriously. Behave, this is the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ website !

  • Comment number 4.

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

  • Comment number 5.

    #3

    It's not just PC Crick...rather more it's libertarian Crick and the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ at large.

    Re 'keeping the Ex sweet'

    One erudite poster on here once noted the 'complimentary fluid sharing' that some at the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ have engaged in with some of our more prominent politicians.

  • Comment number 6.

    "because if any MP ever wishes to visit a school as part of their constituency/parliamentary duties, they would have to be subject to a criminal records check through the CRB."

    Not true, museV. Occasional visitors to schools do not have to be CRB cleared.

  • Comment number 7.

    Could it be that Cable and then Huhne have been "taken out"? Leaving Dave and his pals to deal with a party led by a pretty hapless and toothless Clegg.

  • Comment number 8.

    museV,
    It wouldn't surprise me if MPs are exempt from CRB checks.
    Yes, you make a good point about Politicians and Journalists. Their symbiotic relationship is very bad for this country and democracy. We are very poorly served by almost all of them , especially the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ which we have to pay for on pain of imprisonment whether we like it or not.
    It all raises the question of whether the UK is a genuinely democratic country. I think not. You would have to go to Switzerland for that !

  • Comment number 9.

    Lets not read too much into this until the evidence has been brought forth for us to examine.

    Mr Huhne remains innocent of any criminal act on a personal basis until proved to be guilty. Speeding convictions are not criminal but fraudulently declaring that someone else was driving a car may well be to avoid a traffic offence.

    The Courts would have to decide if any evidence is found and that of course depends upon Essex police making any possible charge stick in the first place!

    Isatou: Why would MPs be exempt from CRB checks? In my experience political parties require election candidates to provide CRB checks prior to be accepted as such. Yours is a particularly cynical post. MPs are made up of people from across the broad section of society, they are not singled out for a special purpose and have to be elected into office by the public anyway.

    I would think most political journalists are regarded by politicians as people to be ware of and to be prepared for. Just think about Ken Clarke when he let his guard slip on radio for a few moments in a ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ studio yesterday.

  • Comment number 10.

    `We are trying to find a data source to identify a particular offence...'

    Sounds like a fishing trip to me. Sorry, but this looks and smells like a witch-hunt.

  • Comment number 11.

    #7 and #10

    It does seem that way...especially the Cablegate secret microphone affair!

    Nah...it can't be, we would just be joining in with all the other conspiracy theorists!

  • Comment number 12.

    Paul,
    A voter cynical about British politicians , surely not. I just assumed that MPs have so many special priviledges not available to the rest of us, it might extend to CRB checks. Maybe I am wrong.
    MPs certainly are not from a "broad section of society" . That is one of the problems with our broken democracy and why we are so badly governed. In the main part they are inexperienced third-raters.

  • Comment number 13.

    Isatou #12

    Well said!

    Although up here in Yorkshire our MPs are perhaps not quite so stereo-typical of those elsewhere in Britain.

    Many are still third rate though even though they may have a lifetime of experience to offer.

  • Comment number 14.

    Paul,
    Believe me , it is even worse here in Scotland !!!

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