Mother-of-three Anne-Marie Carter has been jailed after falsely accusing a police officer of rape after meeting him on an Internet dating website.

Carter, 46, was jailed for two years yesterday after pleading guilty to perverting the course of justice. Oxford Crown Court heard she made the false allegation against long-serving PC Matthew Tarrant after they had sex at her home in Pitmaston Close, Banbury, last October.

PC Tarrant failed to answer her texts after their liaison – and Carter contacted the police.

Jailing Carter, Judge Julian Hall told her: “Sometimes people are acquitted because people like you make false allegations – to put it a little dramatically you have betrayed the sisterhood.”