Chris Huhne Faces £108,000 Costs Bill

Disgraced former Cabinet Minister Chris Huhne and his ex-wife Vicky Pryce are expected to be freed on electronic tags next month.

The pair could be free as early as May 3 after serving just a quarter of their eight-month prison sentences for perverting the course of justice over a speeding offence in 2003.

Their imminent release emerged as it was revealed Huhne is facing a claim to pay more than £100,000 in prosecution costs over the penalty points swap.

Prosecutors are demanding a total of £108,541.15 from the ex-Energy Secretary, who fought for months to have the case against him thrown out.

After his attempts failed, Huhne - on the day his trial was due to start - finally admitted giving penalty points to Pryce in a bid to avoid prosecution.

Pryce continued to protest her innocence but was eventually convicted after a retrial when a jury rejected her insistence that she had been coerced into taking the points.

During the first trial and then a second, it was revealed that she exposed the swap herself out of revenge after Huhne left her for another woman.

The mother-of-five, who has three children with the politician, admitted to a journalist that she wanted to "nail him" for walking out on their 26-year marriage.

Their identical prison sentences in March completed the drama started by the infidelity of a top Lib Dem once tipped as a future party leader.

Huhne was allowed out of prison for the costs hearing on Monday and was supported in the public gallery by his father and girlfriend Carina Trimingham.

Southwark Crown Court was told his legal team had offered to pay £25,000 towards the case but prosecutor Andrew Edis QC insisted the six-figure claim was "just and reasonable".

He said: "All of this occurred because Mr Huhne decided to do everything he could to try and get away with what he had done and gave in only at the last minute when defeat was inevitable.

"This was essentially predominantly caused by Mr Huhne's decision to make two applications - first to apply to dismiss on the grounds of insufficiency of evidence and secondly to apply to stay the proceedings as an abuse of process."

He said an "enormous amount of work" was done by the Crown Prosecution Service, counsel, and the police because of Huhne's assertions.

The former politician's barrister John Kelsey-Fry QC argued that it was "simply unjust and unreasonable" to expect him to pay "every single possible penny that anybody could think of".

"In our view, a reasonable, indeed arguably generous, but reasonable figure which we would have been prepared to offer had the door not been closed on the day of sentence, would be £25,000," he said.

Pryce, who was found guilty of perverting the course of justice at a re-trial and also given an eight-month jail sentence, was not in court for the costs hearing.

The CPS is seeking a total of £48,695.56 from the former top economist and her legal team are in the process of agreeing how much she should be liable to pay.

The amounts could increase slightly to include the cost of the latest hearing.

Mr Justice Sweeney is expected to make a ruling in the case next week.