Policewoman who left her sergeant lover’s life ‘in ashes’ after lying about abuse is spared jail

• PC Amanda Aston, 44, accused Sgt Matthew Taylor of being a domestic abuser
• Her lies led to the sergeant being charged and imprisoned for two months 

A female police officer has been spared jail after she falsely accused her sergeant boyfriend of domestic abuse, leading to his arrest and imprisonment.

PC Amanda Aston, 44, reported Matthew Taylor for ‘controlling and coercive behaviour’ after their eight-month relationship broke down in 2017.

Mr Taylor was charged with domestic abuse and imprisoned in March 2018 for two months after Aston ‘encouraged’ him to get back with her – and then reported him for breaching bail conditions which forbade him from contacting her.

He lost his job at Surrey Police where he had worked with Aston, a mother-of-one.

She also made a false application for a £5,000 grant from the Police Welfare Fund by claiming she was forced to move home because Mr Taylor harassed her after she broke up with him.

At Maidstone Crown Court, PC Aston was handed a suspended sentence after a judge ruled a spell in custody would cause ‘traumatic damage’ to her child

Charges against Mr Taylor were dropped after messages between them showed Aston had ‘misled’ investigators with a ‘melodramatic’ story about their relationship.

Aston was found guilty at a trial in March of two counts of perverting the course of justice and another of fraud by false representation.

She appeared in court today where she was sentenced to 21 months imprisonment, suspended for two years.

Prosecutor Eloise Marshall told the court that Aston told ‘blatant’ lies in a 57-page statement and that she had used her specialist training in domestic abuse to construct the account.

She said that Aston showed ‘no remorse’ for her actions and that she was ‘motivated by jealousy’ about Mr Taylor meeting other women.

Ms Marshall added that Aston’s lies could ‘prevent’ victims of domestic abuse from coming forward through fear that they would not be believed.

She told the court: ‘Matthew Taylor spent two months in custody on the basis of false allegations.

‘Her lies and embellishments led to the investigation. Mr Taylor has lost his job as a result.

‘Her lies led directly to his imprisonment and breach of bail.’

Giving evidence at her trial, Aston denied being ‘a conniving puppet-master who liked being the centre of attention’.

Kevin Baumber, defending, said that Aston and Mr Taylor’s relationship had been ‘tense and difficult’, and that she had been ‘damaged’ by previous experiences which ‘affected her perceptions’.

He said she had felt ‘professionally threatened’ by Mr Taylor after they broke up and that her behaviour was ‘consistent with previous emotional abuse’.

Sentencing, Judge John Cavanagh said Aston had constructed an ‘exaggerated’ and ‘melodramatic’ account and that she had given a ‘false impression’ of Mr Taylor’s behaviour.

He said that, while there was a ‘kernel of truth’ about their ‘volatile and toxic’ relationship, the ‘overall impression you gave was demonstrably false’.

The judge said that, after Mr Taylor was released on bail, Aston had ‘concealed’ the fact that she had ‘willingly encouraged’ him to enter back into a relationship with her.

‘In fact you had, for much of the time, welcomed him back,’ he said.

‘You underplayed the extent to which you were a willing participant in the contact and, at least for much of the period, had encouraged him to meet up and to feel that you were a loving couple.

‘You were well aware that these false allegations would make it more likely that Matthew Taylor would have his bail withdrawn.’

The judge added that Mr Taylor has suffered ‘the strain and humiliation of arrest and charge’, and for a number of months faced the ‘grim’ prospect of a trial.

He added: ‘False allegations of this nature place difficulties in the way of other complainants who have genuine complaints of controlling and coercive behaviour.

‘A lack of trust in complainants because of the corrosive effect of false allegations in cases such as this may deter victims from complaining and may enhance difficulties in obtaining convictions.

‘However, I must make clear that your conviction in this case should not and must not serve as a deterrent for people who are, or who genuinely believe themselves to be suffering in controlling and coercive relationships to come forward to the police or other authorities.

‘This will not place them in danger of being prosecuted. The reason why you find yourself before the court for sentence today is because you chose to make false allegations.’

Aston was said to be a ‘dedicated and hard-working’ officer at the time and, despite being a probationer, had a promising career ahead of her.

The court heard Mr Taylor is not the father of her child.

Speaking after Aston’s trial, Chief Superintendent Tom Budd of Surrey Police said: ‘The guilty verdict follows a challenging and complex investigation against one of our serving officers which uncovered the web of lies Aston had constructed purely because she knew the impact it would have on Mr Taylor.

‘As well as having to serve time in prison, Mr Taylor also lost his job as a police officer and his reputation was left in tatters as a result of her lies.

‘The messages between them showed that she was telling him one thing, that she didn’t want to support a prosecution and that she loved him and couldn’t live without him, while she was telling police something completely different by saying he had contacted her and turned up at various locations unwanted, including one of the addresses she said she had to move to in order to get away from him.’