Amy Tatton faked knife-threat burglary in Lincoln to get attention from husband

A mother faked a 3am burglary in which she claimed an intruder held a knife to her throat in order to get her husband's attention.

Police wasted 27 hours and 35 minutes investigating Amy Tatton's lie at a cost to the taxpayer of £1,238.71.

Lincoln Magistrates' Court heard she gave a false witness statement and was shown pictures of suspected burglars.

Tatton, of St Helen's Avenue, Lincoln, even repeated her made-up account to the Lincolnshire Echo, adding that the knifeman menacingly ran a blade down her arm.

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She admitted wasting police time on June 20 last year and was ordered to pay Lincolnshire Police £500 compensation.

Daniel Paulson, prosecuting, said: "On June 20, at about 3.10am, she alleged she had been burgled at her home address.

"She reported that a gentleman had broken into her house and held a knife to her throat.

"As a result of that claim there was a police investigation, including forensic testing of the knife they seized.

"No offender was ever identified for that burglary because it never happened.

"She was arrested and in her police interview she admitted she made it up to get her husband's attention. She was reprimanded on a previous occasion for wasting police time."

Tatton, who has a 21-month-old daughter and is expecting a son this June, was arrested in September after holes in her account emerged and was charged in November.

Judith Brennan, in mitigation, told the court that Tatton's lie stemmed from the pressures of family life. She was feeling extremely guilty about having to leave her daughter in childcare which she and her husband were struggling to afford," she said.

"She was also having issues at work because her daughter was poorly.

"On June 20, she had got up at about 2am and gone to get a drink.

"She thought she saw a shadow at the back door.

"She decided to unlock it and left it open.

"She ran to the bedroom and told her husband someone had been in the house.

"He went downstairs, locked the back door and called the police as he went back up.

"A short while later police turned up and by that stage she felt she could not confess all.

"It was one of those rollercoaster things.

"When she was arrested she immediately told police her statement was false and once at the station she did not hold up the procedure in any way, and she made a full admission."

Tatton, a former chef, now a volunteer at a toddler group and with the Boys' Brigade, declined to comment on the case.