A man was arrested and quizzed by police after his sister alleged he had attacked her and was behind a campaign of stalking.

Richard Banks was quizzed by police for several hours and made the subject of a court order for him to stay away.

But the “harassment” continued as Emily-Jo Banks, 23, told officers her brother was nearby – resulting in a police helicopter being used to search the area.

Now a judge has heard everything the woman said had been a pack of lies, but could have resulted in the totally innocent Mr Banks facing a five-year jail term.

When officers probed deeper into her allegations they discovered even her claims of being 20 weeks pregnant were also fake and she had sent herself the messages using a false account.

In fact, Mr Banks, who lives in Dover, had been found fast asleep in bed miles away from where she alleged he was pestering her.

Canterbury Crown Court heard how Ms Banks, of Milmead Road, in Margate, had set up bogus Facebook accounts in the name of her totally innocent brother.

She has now been jailed for 18 months after a judge branded her “highly manipulative and mendacious, and malicious” after she admitted perverting the course of justice in 2015.

But a psychiatrist who examined her said she had no mental illness- although she was narcissistic and had a tendency to lie.

"Officers went to Mr Banks' home and found him asleep and while they were talking to him messages were still being sent" - prosecutor Ed Fowler

The case has taken so long to come to court because Ms Banks fled to Spain and later appeared on Kent Police’s Most Wanted list.

Prosecutor Ed Fowler said Mr Banks was arrested after his sister alleged he had attacked her and forced her to take drugs.

“She alleged she had then suffered a campaign of harassment because her brother disapproved of the father of the baby she was expecting,” he said.

“She also claimed he began sending her threatening text messages but when he was questioned by police, told them he hadn’t seen her in years and when his mobile phone was examined there was no evidence of any messages being sent.”

Despite that he was bailed and made the subject of a non-molestation order but days later she began alleging he was breaching the order.

“On the telephone, she was hysterical demanding police do something and claimed she was 20-weeks pregnant,” said Mr Fowler.

“She said her brother had followed her home and was spying on her and sending her more messages.

“The property was searched, together with all the neighbouring gardens and police even used a helicopter.”

It was only then that police became suspicious when claims made in messages describing her actions meant her brother would have to be in two places at the same time to have been able to see her.

“Meanwhile officers went to Mr Banks’ home and found him fast asleep and while they were talking to him messages were still being sent,” said Mr Fowler.

“So police sent a message and it arrived not on Mr Banks’ phone but that owned by his sister.

Judge Rupert Lowe told her: “You deliberately made his life a misery.

“This was more than just fantasy, or uncontrolled fantasy on your part.

“You set up a false Facebook account to manufacture evidence against him which you knew was false.

“He was made subject to a wholly unjustified court order.”

The judge, in imposing a restraining order against her, told her: “You must leave your brother alone.”