Overview
- The Court of Appeal has raised former PC Lauren Evans’s jail term from one year to two years and ordered her to return to custody after a referral under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme.
- Evans fabricated a claim that she was pulled over on the A20 and subjected to an intimate search to explain being late for work, a lie that a jury found to be perverting the course of justice.
- Her false report triggered a major investigation in March 2023 that used more than 30 detectives and about 1,500 hours of work and led to the arrest, 23‑hour custody and suspension of a serving officer, PC Alex Watson, who was later cleared by CCTV and ANPR evidence.
- Evans was dismissed for discreditable conduct at a misconduct hearing and is to be placed on the policing barred list, which prevents her from future police work.
- The case underlines how digital evidence such as CCTV and automatic number plate recognition can disprove contested accounts and shows how sentencing reviews can increase penalties where prosecutors consider a term too light.