Surrey PC Amanda Aston sacked after lying about ex-partner's abuse

Amanda Aston used her specialist training in domestic abuse to construct the account, a court heard

A police officer spared jail after spinning a "web of lies" about abuse by her ex-partner has now been sacked.

PC Amanda Aston, 44, had an eight-month relationship with Sgt Matthew Taylor.

After they split up, she reported him for controlling and coercive behaviour, but was found to have misled investigators and was convicted of perverting the course of justice.

Mr Taylor lost his police job and spent two months in custody over the claims, Maidstone Crown Court heard last month.

Aston, of Seaford, near Eastbourne, East Sussex, was sentenced to 21 months, suspended for two years, after being convicted of perverting the course of justice and fraud by false representation.

On Wednesday, she was dismissed by Surrey Police at an accelerated misconduct hearing for breaching standards of professional behaviour.

The force's chief constable, Tim De Meyer, who chaired the hearing, found Aston had "discredited the police service and undermined public confidence".

He also found her behaviour dishonest and lacking integrity, and that she had compromised her position as a police officer. Her details will now be placed on the College of Policing barred list.

Aston encouraged her boyfriend back and then reported him for breaching bail, a court heard

Aston's trial heard that the couple both worked at Surrey Police and their relationship broke down in 2017.

After Aston reported him and made claims in a 57-page witness statement and a video recorded interview, Mr Taylor was charged with domestic abuse.

Aston, a mother-of-one, encouraged him to get back with her but then reported him for breaching his bail conditions that banned him from contacting her, the court heard.

Mr Taylor was arrested and imprisoned in March 2018.

Guildford-based Aston also made a false application for £5,000 from the Police Welfare Fund by claiming she was forced to move because Mr Taylor had harassed her.

Sentencing her last month, Judge John Cavanagh said while there was a "kernel of truth" about their "volatile" relationship, the overall impression she gave was "demonstrably false".

Ch Supt Tom Budd, from Surrey Police, said Aston, who was also told to do 100 hours' unpaid work, constructed a "web of lies".

Following Wednesday's misconduct hearing, Mr De Meyer said: "For a police officer to make false allegations, which led to another officer being incarcerated, and to make false representations to benefit from an official fund reserved for hardship, is so serious that it leaves me with no option but to dismiss her without notice."

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