A COUPLE who helped a suspected murderer evade capture by police have been spared jail.

Balwinder Upple, aged 46, and his wife Kashmiro, aged 43, had their nine-month jail sentence suspended for two years.

Mr Upple was found guilty at the Old Bailey last month of perverting the course of justice.

His wife was convicted of two similar charges.

The court heard how the 23-year-old family friend, who cannot be named for legal reasons, turned up at the couple's home on September 2, 2005.

He had stabbed his housemate in a trivial quarrel over domestic chores.

He arrived at the house in Osborne Road, Belvedere, as Mrs Upple was putting her three daughters to bed.

Mrs Upple claimed although the man told her he had been in a fight, she did not realise his victim had died, although Mr Upple later admitted he knew the man had stabbed someone.

At 9pm she rang her husband, who was at an evening class.

She later told police the man had left before her husband arrived home.

But phone records revealed the call to the taxi firm was not made until 10.37pm - minutes before police arrived at the scene.

The suspected murderer is still on the run.

Mrs Upple was accused of calling the taxi, even though she knew about the stabbing, and keeping that fact and the taxi's destination from the police.

Judge Paul Focke told her: "You had already agreed with your husband, it seems, to lie and then deliberately lied to the police over his involvement in this matter."

He added: "I recognise both of you are throughly decent people and this was an incident visited upon you without your wishes."

Mrs Upple, a civil servant, is now likely to lose her job.