A SERVING police officer who crashed his car and then reported it stolen has been jailed for five months.

James Longley embarked on what the prosecution described at Maidstone Crown Court as “a sustained deception”.

The 27-year-old, of Fenner Close, Rochester, crashed his Volvo after a night out drinking with friends in April 2006.

He fled from the scene and the following morning reported a break-in at his home and his car being stolen.

A taxi driver had seen the crash and a man fleeing. He had thought it had been travelling at around 60mph in a

30mph area.

The court heard Longley repeated the lie twice to his insurance company, before receiving a cheque for £2,400 in settlement of his claim in July that year.

However, the police and insurance company were suspicious and began a review of the evidence, speaking to his friends with him on the night, his ex-girlfriend, with whom he was living at the time, and a local taxi firm.

He had been seen on CCTV leaving just after 3am with a group of people, but he told police he had been home by 1.30am and 2am, giving two different times on two different occasions when asked.

Longley had received praise in the past from the chief constable of Kent. He joined in 2001 and had been praised for his high arrest rate.

On one occasion he was also awarded a certificate of merit by the chief constable after he administered life-saving first aid to a known drug addict who had been stabbed.

He eventually pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice in December last year – the day before his trial was due to start.

Passing sentence, Judge Martin Joy said that a non-custodial sentence could not be justified.

Defence counsel Richard Travers had argued that Longley, who was dismissed from the police force the day before his court appearance, had already “paid a price” for a serious but “one-off” mistake, made when he was under stress resulting from the break-up with his long-term girlfriend and having been threatened by a gunman just weeks earlier while on a job.

Judge Joy said he had taken into account everything said on Longley’s behalf but he deserved little credit for his conduct.

He said: “Your performance as a police officer was deserving of considerable praise, but quite plainly this is a serious offence.

“Having drunk heavily you drove and had a crash. You reported the vehicle had been stolen and you were not the driver. You sustained that position almost up to trial.”

Judge Joy said the sentence would have been six months’ imprisonment if Longley had been found guilty by a jury.