The wife of Phil Spector has claimed that her husband and his fellow inmates in an unnamed California jail are treated "worse than animals". In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, 29-year-old Rachelle Spector said that the jailed producer, who she married in 2006, is "locked in a five-by-nine cell, 23-and- a-half hours a day".

“They treat people worse than animals. I want that known,” she said, adding that she didn’t believe the testimony of the various witnesses who said that Spector had drunkenly pulled guns on them.

Spector was sentenced to 19 years’ imprisonment last month, after being found guilty of the second-degree murder of actress Lana Clarkson in the 69-year-old music mogul’s home, which his wife still lives in. Spector will not be eligible for parole until 2028.

A gag order prevented Rachelle Spector from talking about the murder case until last week. Since then, she has vehemently protested her husband’s innocence, claiming that the prison system was too brutal for him and that he is “a real small and fragile man”.