The wife of a convicted Worcester Park paedophile will join her husband behind bars after she was found guilty of trying to mislead police investigating him.

Wendy Hopkins, 60, was jailed for 12 months today for perverting the course of justice by tampering with statements about her husband in September 2010.

She was found guilty at Kingston Crown Court yesterday.

Judge Susan Tapping said Mrs Hopkins was unwilling to hear allegations against her husband Michael.

He was jailed in October for eight-and-a-half years for a string of attacks on girls as young as six-years-old.

She said: "I have no doubt that these serious allegations were a complete bombshell to you.

"You are one of countless women who love and trust a man."

But she added: "These men are skilled at hiding their offending."

But defence counsel Marcus Fletcher said: "This is a woman that has been married for 20 years.

"When partners feel very very much in love, that love can blind partners - that's what's happened in this case."

He added Mrs Hopkins, of Church Road, Worcester Park, was "a woman of exemplary character" who "has worked her whole life".

But he conceded: "This offence strikes at the heart of the criminal justice system - and she knows that."

The jury had retired for three hours and 27 minutes before returning with a 10 to two majority verdict the day before.

Mrs Hopkins, a customer services supervisor at Interval International, in Raynes Park, cupped her shaking hands as she was told she would go to prison.

Judge Tapping said: “The manipulation of evidence is very serious indeed. This offence is too serious to drop. Custody is the only possible sentence to reflect the gravity of what you did.”