A police officer from Surrey has been charged with perverting the course of justice and will appear in a London court next week.

42-year-old serving Surrey Police officer Amanda Aston was charged with two counts of perverting the course of justice and one count of fraud by false misrepresentation, police confirmed in a short statement released on Thursday (November 11).

Police said the charges "relate to allegations reported to us in October 2018."

She is now due to appear in Westminster Magistrates' Court faced with the charges next Tuesday (November 16).

According to the Crown Prosecution Service, a representation is defined is defined as 'false' "if it is untrue or misleading and the person making it knows that it is, or might be, untrue or misleading. Actual knowledge that the representation might be untrue is required not awareness of a risk that it might be untrue."

The CPS guidance on the issue continues: "Evidence is necessary to prove that the defendant communicated the false representation to a person or to a machine. It is not relevant whether the false representation is believed or has any affect on any other person."

The prosecution service meanwhile defines perverting the course of justice as follows: "The offence of Perverting the Course of Justice is committed when an accused:

  • does an act or series of acts;
  • which has or have a tendency to pervert; and
  • which is or are intended to pervert;
  • the course of public justice."