Sunday Times drops legal challenge over Huhne emails

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The publisher of the Sunday Times has dropped a high court challenge over a bid by Essex Police to obtain emails from the newspaper relating to the Chris Huhne speeding affair.

Huhne, the energy secretary, is being investigated by Essex Police over a claim from his then-wife Vicky Pryce that he asked her to pretend she had been driving when he was caught speeding, an allegation Huhne denied.

The police obtained a production order in October last year ordering the Sunday Times to hand over emails understood to have been sent between Pryce and the newspaper's political editor Isabel Oakeshott.

Times Newspapers Ltd, immediate parent company of the Times and Sunday Times, initially challenged the ruling and sought judicial review of the decision, handed down at a private hearing.

It was announced last year that police "very close" to deciding whether to charge Huhne over the allegation, but the Sunday Times' challenge put the decision on hold.

The publisher, which was due in court today over the issue, has now dropped the challenge and may pass the emails to the police, which reportedly also has a signed affidavit from Pryce and a recorded telephone conversation between her and Huhne.

The police investigation into the energy secretary directly followed a Sunday Times interview with Pryce, during which she told Oakeshott that Huhne had asked "someone" to take the points for him.

The speeding offence is alleged to have taken place in 2003 while Huhne, then an MEP, was driving home from Stansted airport after attending the European parliament.