LONDON, England (AFP) — Disgraced former British minister Chris Huhne and his ex-wife were jailed yesterday in a bitter saga of revenge that began with a driving offence and ended in adultery and the destruction

of his political career.

A judge said that “any element of tragedy is entirely your own fault” as he sentenced Huhne, a former Liberal Democrat party leadership contender, and Vicky Pryce to eight months imprisonment each for perverting the course of justice.

Greek-born senior economist Pryce agreed in 2003 to take penalty points on her driving licence that Huhne had incurred for speeding, in a bid to help her then-husband avoid a driving ban.

The crime would have gone undetected had Pryce not embarked on a quest for vengeance eight years later after he left her for a bisexual female election campaign aide.

Sentencing the pair at Southwark Crown Court in London, judge Nigel Sweeney said the pair had “stellar” careers at the time of the offence and “no doubt you thought you’d get away with it”.

The judge told Huhne, who was energy and climate minister in Britain’s coalition government from 2010 until his resignation last year, that he had “fallen from a great height”.

Huhne pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing and the judge said he had reduced his sentence by 10 per cent for that.

Pryce pleaded not guilty using the defence of marital coercion but was found guilty by a jury last week. An earlier trial had failed to reach a verdict.

The judge said Pryce had “an implacable desire for revenge”, adding that her not guilty plea showed she had a “controlling, manipulative and devious side”.

“You have both been brought to justice for your joint offence,” he said. “Any element of tragedy is entirely your own fault.”

The shamed former couple were side-by-side in the dock as they were sentenced.

Neither showed any emotion and apart from a brief glance from Huhne towards his ex-wife they made no contact with each other before they were taken down to start their jail terms.

Both will likely only serve four months behind bars. — Sorry saga of revenge and family breakdown —

The sentences were the climax to a sorry saga of revenge and family breakdown that played out in the courtroom during the trial.

Huhne abruptly left Pryce for his publicist Carina Trimingham just shortly after the May 2010 general election that saw the centrist Liberal Democrats enter a coalition government with Prime Minister David Cameron’s centre-right Conservatives.

Their affair was exposed in the News of the World, media baron Rupert Murdoch’s now-defunct weekly tabloid.

Huhne broke the news to his wife of 26 years and mother of his three children during half-time of a World Cup football match. They divorced the following year.

Pryce apparently became obsessed with getting revenge on Huhne and the court heard that with a lawyer friend she cooked up a plot to “nail” her ambitious ex-husband by revealing the speeding points scam.

Allegations that Huhne passed speeding points to an unidentified person ran in two British newspapers in May 2011. Huhne and Pryce were both arrested and were charged with perverting the course of justice in February 2012.

Pryce’s defence of coercion relied on arguments that he had pressured her to accept the points. She also told the trial that during their marriage he bullied her and demanded she have an abortion.

Pryce received glowing references during the trial from people including John Scarlett, the former head of Britain’s foreign intelligence service MI6.

The toll the case had taken on their family was also revealed in painful detail during the trial.

It emerged that Huhne had become estranged from his son who excoriated him for what he had done in a series of searing texts. Pryce’s daughter from a previous marriage also backed her against Huhne.

Huhne stood down from the cabinet last year to fight the allegations. He resigned his seat in parliament on February 5 after pleading guilty.