Judge denies Pryce media-link lies

Constance Briscoe who has been suspended since her arrest in October 2012, denies three counts of intending to pervert the course of public justice.

She is alleged to have provided police with two inaccurate statements about her role as an intermediary between Vicky Pryce and reporters, producing an altered copy of a statement and getting a document expert to view the wrong version of the statement.

Briscoe was originally due to be a prosecution witness at the pair’s trial last year, but was deemed not to be a reliable or truthful witness.

The 56-year-old told police she was “furious” about the allegation that she had lied when she was first interviewed, Southwark Crown Court heard.

“If I’m absolutely honest, I’m livid. I didn’t even want to get involved in this wretched incident in the first place,” she said.

“I can’t tell you how cross I am about all this, at the end of the day Vicky Pryce and Chris Huhne know what happened and I don’t.

“I have got no idea what went on in 2003 and all of a sudden I’m the one... Perjury, for heavens sake. I’m bloody not happy about it at all.”

She added: “I was merely the contact for the Mail on Sunday to provide assurances to her (Ms Pryce).”

Jurors have heard that Briscoe denied speaking to journalists about the speeding points in her statement, but emails later emerged showing that she had been communicating with the Mail on Sunday.

After her arrest, she told officers that she had always admitted speaking to Mail on Sunday journalist David Dillon, but claimed they had been discussing allegations Mr Huhne had a “homosexual liaison”.