A woman was jailed today for falsely accusing her former work colleague of sexually assaulting her.

Teresa Watson, 50, claimed Martin Canavan groped her while they worked together at a WH Smith newsagents in Aberdeen Airport.

She even went to the police in April last year and convinced officers to look into her story. They wasted 72 hours of their time trying to uncover the truth.

It was only through the determination of one officer – PC Rafael Alcaraz – that her lies were exposed.

Meanwhile her supposed attacker, Mr Canavan, had been hauled to a police station for around six hours of questioning in the middle of the night.

He was later released without charge.

And when police reviewed CCTV they were unable to find any truth to Watson’s claims.

She was found guilty of making a false accusation of sexual assault and wasting police time after a trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court last month (NOV).

Today the court heard that Watson still refused to accept the guilty verdict of Sheriff Richard McFarlane.

Since her sentence was deferred last month she had failed to cooperate in the preparation of reports, refusing to disclose personal details and storming out of meetings with social workers.

Defence agent Mike Allan said: “She accepts that she was found guilty.”But in her head she does not believe she committed this offence.”

Sheriff McFarlane said that “extraordinary aspects” and “peculiarities” about her case had been revealed during the trial, such as her inability to pinpoint the date of the alleged attack.

And he said the impact of such an allegation on Mr Canavan’s life was “incalculable”. The sheriff said: “I found you guilty of both charges going back to April 25, 2014.

“The first charge is that you accused a former work colleague of sexually assaulting you.

“The police made inquiries and the found that your allegations did not have a grounding in fact. This led to the second charge.

“These matters are extremely serious.

“As you are well aware I do not believe a word you said.

“As a result of these allegations police called on your work colleague. The impact of being targeted by the police in human terms is probably incalculable.

“It has been a life changing event and one that I don’t think he has fully recovered from.

“I’m in no doubt that each of these charges attracts a custodial sentence.”

Watson of Sandhaven, outside of Fraserburgh, was jailed for eight months.

As she was led from the dock in cuffs yesterday she said: “That’s ridiculous.”

Sheriff McFarlane praised the “competent and responsible” work of PC Alcaraz and commended him for making sure that justice was done.