A former police officer has been ordered to return to prison after her sentence for fabricating a sexual assault claim was doubled. Lauren Evans, 35, was originally sentenced to one year in prison in March after being found guilty of perverting the course of justice.
Her sentence was reviewed under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme by the Court of Appeal, which increased it to two years. Evans had already been released from her initial sentence and must now return to custody.
The fabricated incident occurred in March 2023 when Evans, then a police constable based at Bromley Police Station, was running late for her shift. She sent a message to senior officers stating she had been pulled over.
Upon arriving at work, Evans elaborated on the false story to colleagues, claiming she had been stopped by an unmarked car on the A20 in south-east London and subjected to an intimate body search by a plain-clothes officer she identified as 'Watson'.
An investigation involving over 30 detectives and more than 1,500 hours of work was launched. This led to the identification of PC Alex Watson as a suspect. Coincidentally, he had been driving an unmarked car in the vicinity at the time. He was subsequently arrested at his home in front of his family, held for 23 hours, interviewed, and suspended from duty.
However, further analysis of CCTV and automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) data proved that no vehicle stop had taken place and that PC Watson's vehicle had not left the motorway. He was subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing.
Evans was arrested and convicted of perverting the course of justice. She was later dismissed from the force for discreditable conduct and is to be placed on the Policing Barred List.
PC Watson stated that making up an allegation of that nature was "disgraceful" and that he felt he was treated like a "violent criminal." He added that he and his wife, who together had 30 years of service with the Metropolitan Police, "felt betrayed and let down by the organisation."
Judge Martin Griffith, during Evans' original sentencing, noted that her crime stemmed from "a simple lie told in circumstances which must have had something to do with being late."