Katherine Franklin made a series of false claims to police, including of an acid attack, which saw her ex-husband arrested three times

A mother-of-three poured drain cleaner on her own face and told police she had been the victim of an acid attack.

Katherine Franklin, 37, is believed to have cost authorities more than £25,000 by forcing police to investigate her bogus claims.

A court has now heard how Franklin made a series of false allegations to police about her husband who she split up with in 2011 after 13 years of marriage.

As her lies began to unravel, she even tried to blame her 13-year-old son for what was going on.

Reading Crown Court was told that, from July 2011 to October 2012, Franklin accused her husband of burglary, harassment, robbery and assault.

She alleged to police that she had been attacked in public by a man wearing a Scream mask and as a result of her allegations, police arrested her husband three times and even placed a restraining order on him.

Officers eventually found a mobile phone Franklin, also known as Kate Flower, had been using to send threatening messages to herself. When questioned about the phone, she blamed her own son, then 13.

On October 4 in 2012, she told officer a stranger had thrown acid on her face in Braywick Park in Maidenhead, Berkshire.

However a police investigation found a receipt for caustic soda, which is used as drain cleaner, in her bag.

An expert also concluded her facial injuries were consistent with a pouring motion, rather than a throwing motion.

She claimed a stranger in a Scream mask had thrown acid in her face in Braywick Park (pictured) in Maidenhead, Berkshire, but police found a receipt for caustic soda in her bag

She was convicted of two counts of perverting the course of justice, a charge which she denied, after a trial and she was given a suspended sentence.

Judge Angela Morris said Franklin, now under psychiatric care, acted 'despicably.'

Referring to her claims about the phone messages, Judge Morris said: 'Your response when faced with your actions was to blame your own son.'

The judge added: 'I have watched the video of the first police interview and that was not, in my view, a woman struggling with a mental health problem.

'Quite frankly, whatever the rights and wrongs in your marriage were, what you went on to do was absolutely despicable.

'You maliciously and deliberately targeted your ex-husband. But your scheming was your own downfall.'