A former Metropolitan Police officer has been sent back to prison after the Court of Appeal ruled that her original sentence was too lenient for falsely accusing a fellow officer of sexually assaulting her in an attempt to cover up being late for work.

Lauren Evans, 35, was originally jailed for 12 months after being convicted of perverting the course of justice. However, the Attorney General referred the case to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme, where judges agreed the punishment did not properly reflect the seriousness of her offending.

As a result, Evans’ prison sentence has now been doubled to two years. Having already been released after serving part of her original sentence, she has been ordered to return to custody.

The false allegation stemmed from events in March 2023, when Evans claimed she had been stopped while driving along the A20 in south-east London by a man in an unmarked vehicle who identified himself as a Kent Police officer.

She alleged that the man carried out an intimate body search before allowing her to continue her journey. Before arriving at Bromley Police Station, where she was based at the time, Evans messaged senior officers saying:

“I’ve just been pulled over!!”

Although she arrived at work on time, she repeated the allegation to colleagues and later provided investigators with what the court heard was a detailed and emotional account of the supposed incident. Her statement described being stopped by the officer, questioned and searched, prompting police to treat the complaint as a potentially serious criminal matter.

The accusation immediately triggered a major investigation.

Using location data and other enquiries, officers identified a Metropolitan Police officer who had been travelling on the same stretch of road around the time Evans claimed the incident took place. He was arrested in front of his wife and children, taken into custody, held overnight in a police cell and suspended from duty while detectives investigated the allegation.

The impact on the officer was significant, with his professional and personal life thrown into turmoil as the investigation progressed.

As detectives examined the evidence, however, Evans’ account began to unravel. CCTV footage and automatic number plate recognition data showed that the alleged stop had never taken place, contradicting the version of events she had repeatedly given to investigators.

The court heard that what began as an attempt to explain her circumstances ultimately developed into an elaborate false allegation that consumed an enormous amount of police time and resources.

In total, more than 30 detectives worked on the investigation, which is said to have taken approximately 1,500 hours of police time before the complaint was proven to be entirely fabricated.

During proceedings at Southwark Crown Court, prosecutors described the allegation as a lie that had “snowballed out of control”, with Evans continuing to maintain the false account after multiple opportunities to tell the truth.

Following her conviction for perverting the course of justice, Evans was dismissed from the Metropolitan Police without notice in January. The offence is regarded as one of the most serious against the justice system because it can lead to innocent people being investigated or prosecuted while diverting resources away from genuine victims and criminal investigations.

The Court of Appeal later concluded that the original 12-month sentence failed to adequately reflect the gravity of the offence, particularly given the devastating consequences for the officer falsely accused and the extensive police resources devoted to investigating a crime that never happened.

The case has since prompted widespread discussion online, with many arguing that knowingly making false allegations of serious offences should carry tougher penalties. One person commented:

“All these fake allegations is why the real perpetrators get away and rarely convicted.”

Another wrote:

“She should be jailed longer than 12 months. I hate when girls make false accusations and ruin a man’s life for years all because of false accusations. That’s so dangerous and disgusting and disturbing.”

A third added:

“Start prosecuting these women who lie about it. Its the only way…”

The case has reignited debate about the damage false allegations can cause, not only to those wrongly accused, but also to public confidence in the justice system. While genuine reports of sexual offences remain overwhelmingly truthful, legal experts have long warned that deliberately fabricated claims can have life-changing consequences for innocent individuals while placing a significant strain on police resources.