Weare, Siobhan (2014) Marital coercion. Criminal Law and Justice Weekly, 178 (30). pp. 455-456. ISSN 1759-7943
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Abstract
In March the Government abolished the defence of Marital Coercion with the introduction of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. The defence, previously found in s.47 of the Criminal Justice Act 1925, stated “[o]n a charge against a wife for any offence other than treason or murder it shall be a good defence to prove that the offence was committed in the presence of, and under the coercion of, the husband.” The defence was most recently in the headlines having been used unsuccessfully by Vicky Pryce at her trial for perverting the course of justice, after she accepted driving licence penalty points incurred by her then husband Chris Huhne in 2003.