A WOMAN PC who falsely accused her policeman husband of plotting to kill her has taken Cheshire Constabulary to an employment tribunal.

Claire Doolan claims Cheshire Police should have stopped a criminal investigation into her conduct because it was caused by severe post natal depression following several miscarriages and two difficult pregnancies.

Gripped by paranoia, she concocted a diary of false abuse allegations against her husband Sean in the hope it would helphergaincustody ofhertwochildren if he divorced her, the tribunal was told.

When her fellow officers heard of the allegations in May, 2004, they arrested Mr Doolan in front of his young son and suspended him from duty.

When Mrs Doolan finally persuaded them of her husband's innocence, he was reinstated but she was suspended from her job at Chester CID and investigated for perverting the course of justice by falsifying evidence.

Criminal allegations were not pursued by the Crown Prosecution Service but an internal investigation continues into whether Mrs Doolan breached the police code of conduct.

Details of the investigation were revealed this week at an employment tribunal brought by Mrs Doolan against Cheshire Constabulary.

Since the birth of her daughter in 1998, she had become suicidal, paranoid and had delusional thoughts, the Liverpool tribunal was told.

Mrs Doolan claims that from October 2004, when the Disability Discrimination Act came into force, officers should have reconsidered the investigation against her because her disability could have caused her actions.

She also alleges she was not given enough support when she returned to work and was not allowed to apply for a family-friendly job because of her poor health record.

Cheshire Police claim they did not know the full extent of her illness so had no reason to suspect it caused her to make the false claims.

In a statement , Mrs Doolan told the tribunal : 'I feel so devastated and saddened that the career I felt so passionate about has abandoned me.

'I now see I cannot possibly return to the police force. I hope that when this whole nightmare is over I will be able to pick up the pieces of my life to some degree.'

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