THE wife of a convicted paedophile is standing by her jailed husband because she loves him and believes he has changed.
Sarah-Anne Winch, is supporting Andrew Winch, 56, who is serving a four-month term in Chelmsford Prison for downloading and possessing nearly 2,000 indecent images and videos of children.
The 32-year-old spoke to the Chronicle from the couple's Springfield home after last week's interview with Winch's former wife, Kay.
"I love him to bits, he means the world to me and I would not change that and I know for a fact at the moment he needs my support," said Sarah, who is 22 weeks pregnant with their child.
"I made a vow when I got married that I would be there no matter what, through good and bad, and to me it doesn't matter, you don't walk away from someone especially when they really need you and if it was the other way around I would expect him to be by my side."
Sarah, a college student, met Winch in a pub and the pair married in 2013.
About ten months later, on June 16, 2014, police walked into their home and arrested Winch in front of his wife.
"It was humiliating," said Sarah, who is Winch's third wife.
"Even then I didn't know what the details were. When he got back from the police station I said I support him no matter what. I said I loved him and would be there."
Winch, who pleaded guilty from the outset to ten charges of downloading and possessing indecent images from December 2012, was jailed on Thursday, January 22.
The court heard he had 308 films and pictures at level A, the most extreme, 219 at level B and 1,283 at level C on a laptop and hard drives.
Winch asked Sarah not to come to court, and she obliged out of "respect", but she was allowed her first visit to HM Prison Chelmsford last week.
The charity volunteer said: "He admitted he had done wrong and he said if he could turn back time he wouldn't do it again and that he was sorry for the problems that it had caused for me.
"I know that he is not a bad person deep down.
"I obviously strongly condemn what he has done and he knows what I would do to him if he did this again. I know he wouldn't do anything physically to anyone and at the time of these offences he was not in the right mind.
"Since then I've been trying to support him to get help. He is already seeing his GP and is on anti-depressants."
The court also heard Winch approached child protection charity The Lucy Faithfull Foundation for psychiatric help.
Sarah shrugged off comments from Winch's ex-wife.
In an interview last week, Kay, who was with Winch for about 23 years and said she walked out on their Colchester home in March 2010, branded him "depraved".
"What right does she have to condemn him?" said Sarah, who strongly denies claims by Kay that Winch's offending may pre-date December 2012.
"I can't let her get away with speaking bad of him, it's not fair when he can't defend himself."
