A UK grandmother has spoken out about her husband's arrest for possession of child pornography, saying she still loves him and isn't considering divorce.
Helen, a grandmother of two in her 60s, is one of two wives of convicted paedophiles profiled in new Channel 4 documentary Married to a Paedophile.
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She told the Daily Telegraph she first knew of her husband Robert's illegal activities when police knocked on their door early one morning.
"[Robert] just kept saying 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry'," she told the newspaper.
"I was left in no doubt that whatever they had come for, he had done."
Helen says she was humiliated as police "went through everything, even my underwear".
Her husband was charged and sentenced to two years in prison for possession of graphic images of child sex abuse "in the thousands". The length of his sentence reflects the volume of child pornography - some containing images of children younger than their pre-school age grandchildren.
The couple have been married since Helen was 18, but she says she "felt very much like a widow" after the discovery sent shockwaves through their family.
"I went through huge grief, you almost feel as if he died," she said.
She says while her husband was in prison, she visited him every three weeks, which she called "dates". She also sent regular emails and photos of their chickens; he wasn't allowed to receive pictures of the grandchildren.
The couple are now officially separated, but still see each other daily, and have no plans to divorce.
"I still feel married," Helen told the newspaper.
"I've loved him for 44 years; you can't just switch that off."
After serving eight months in prison, Robert was released last year. He was reportedly placed on the sex offenders register for a decade, and is subject to monitoring software on all internet-enabled devices - including his phone - and random spot-checks by police. He is not allowed to spend time alone with the couple's grandchildren.
Newshub.
