But Huhne, Liberal Democrat MP for Eastleigh in Hampshire until he resigned in February 2013 when his trial began, was successful in his application he that should not be charged for the £31,000 police investigation into barrister Constance Briscoe, who was to have been a key prosecution witness against him and Pryce.
Sansom's explanation of his decision to turn his detective into a barrister offers a neat illustration of the mix of passion and practicality that drives his writing.
One of the seven armed police officers who shot at Mark Saunders at the end of a five-hour police siege told the inquest into the barrister's death today he was "doing his job and his duty".
"We're almost moving into a barrister model," said Patricia Lee Refo, an Arizona lawyer and official of the American Bar Association, referring to the separate caste of lawyers who try cases in Britain.
I bumped into a barrister the other day who assured me that it was a frequent practice in his trade: twenty grand, say, of the husband's salary would go to the wife, where it would be taxed much less than if it had been paid to him.
For example, in the inquest into the barrister siege case, the jury did not find the individual marksmen legally responsible but directed blame at the police's overall handling of the event.
Senior judge Lord Dyson has launched Junior Lawyers in Schools this week, a project that will send young solicitors and barristers into schools and colleges in 2015 to enthuse pupils about law.
Wake up, Britain: your freedoms are disappearing into the pockets of barristers and billionaires.
At this point the judge and barristers went into a huddle, and we were told to ignore that last remark.
There seems to be little difference in getting Michael Gove to dress up in a bib and plus fours and throwing him into a roomful of barristers.
