A plane spotter from Horsham has been found guilty of a spying-related charge by a Greek court.

Chris Wilson, 46, of Erica Way, was found guilty of aiding and abetting by a court in Kalamata. He was given a one-year jail term, which was suspended by the court.

He was among a party of 14 plane spotters, 12 of them Britons, arrested at a Greek air base last year.

All have now been freed pending appeals. It is thought they could fly home on Saturday.

Six Britons and two Dutchmen were sentenced to three years prison after they were found guilty of spying. Five other Britons, apart from Mr Wilson, also received one-year sentences for aiding and abetting.

The court said their sentences would be suspended if they appealed and they would be allowed to go home.

Those found guilty of spying were: Paul Coppin, 45, from Mildenhall, Suffolk; Andrew Jenkins, 32, from York; Peter Norris, 52, of Uxbridge, west London; Gary Fagan, 30, from Kegworth, Leicestershire; Antoni Adamiak, 37, of London; and Graham Arnold, 38, from Ottershaw, Surrey.

The others found guilty of aiding and abetting were Mr Coppin's wife Lesley, 51; Michael Bursell, 47, of Swanland, near Hull; Michael Keane, 57, of Dartford, Kent; Steven Rush, 38, from Caterham, Surrey; and Wayne Groves, 38, from Tamworth, Staffs.

Amid chaotic scenes in court, Lesley Coppin said: "I cannot believe they have done it but I really should know better. This is all about politics. They made a mistake and they won't back down."

Paul Coppin said: "I'm disgusted with the whole legal system. It's a shambles."

After the hearing the group were led upstairs with their lawyers and a heavy police escort to sign their appeal documents.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "British embassy officials are at the trial and are in touch with the defendants, offering them whatever help they need."

Stephen Warren, son of Lesley Coppin - who was not even spotting but was waiting in a bus for the others - said: "I'm in complete shock and disbelief.

"I can't understand how Greek authorities, having seen all of the evidence, can come to this conclusion.

"It's insane that my mother, sitting in a van doing a crossword, can be convicted of espionage.

"They are a bunch of anoraks with a strange hobby but it's not something they should be jailed for."

The group were detained last November.

They claimed they were pursuing an innocent hobby and gathering information readily available in books and on the internet.

They were originally charged with planning to pass the information on to an enemy of Greece, which carried a maximum prison sentence of 25 years.

That was later reduced to a "misdemeanour" charge of espionage, alleging that they gathered the information but not suggesting they meant to give it to a foreign government.

During the trial the spotters stressed that more than one of them had asked intelligence officers at Tanagra, where they were first stopped, if they were breaking the law by looking at aircraft and were told they were not.