'Chris is no paedophile'

Speaking for the first time since her husband’s arrest, 54-year-old Chrissie Langham insisted the Thick Of It star was no paedophile.

The actor was jailed for 10 months for downloading files with names such as 'teenage girl raped on beach by five guys', 'bondage 11-year-old', and 'Philippine child prostitute'.

But Mrs Langham, 54, told her local newspaper, the Kent Messenger, ‘My husband’s crime was of stupidity, arrogance and ghoulish curiosity, believing that he might be beyond the law and not considering the implications.’

She said her husband was ‘the most passionate person I know about the well-being of children, physically, mentally or emotionally. There is nothing in his life to suggest he is a risk to anyone, nothing to suggest he is a sexual predator, and the judge said so.’

‘He has not lost his good character. He will always have it because no one can destroy his heart. We will accept the sentence. We have all suffered.’

She also revealed that in jail, 56-year-old Langham has been: ‘verbally abused, taunted continuously, had missiles thrown at him and his cell flooded out by other prisoners.’

Chrissie is also fighting a ban against Langham's children visiting, phoning or even writing to him in Elmley Prison on the Isle of Sheppey.

Police described the images Langham downloaded as some of the most shocking they had seen. One video found at his home featured a bound, naked and blindfolded girl of eight who was being abused by her father.

Langham’s sentence was condemned as too lenient by some children’s charities.

NSPCC chief Diana Sutton said: ‘There is no excuse for downloading images of children being raped. Langham contributed to the suffering and degradation of those children.’

Published: 21 Sep 2007