A POLICE officer is on trial charged with wasting police time after claiming she was beaten unconscious during a routine vehicle check.

Kent Police’s PC Frances Croucher, aged 28, from Maidstone, denies enhancing her injuries with make-up after being allegedly assaulted in Crockenhill Road, Swanley, on January 14 last year.

The court was shown a DVD of a police interview taken 12 days later, where officers took Croucher through photos of her injuries.

The mother-of-one had received bruising to her left eye and a bloodied right.

In the interview, she says she pulled over into a lay-by where a van was already parked, and told the driver she was going to check his vehicle.

She then describes how she felt the driver’s hand on her left shoulder, grabbing her to make her fall to the ground.

Following hospital treatment, Croucher took photos of her injuries in the early hours of January 15, and her husband took further photos on January 18.

But police argue photos taken by Kent police's crime scene investigation on January 22, eight days after the incident, look “significantly different” to her own, with more black marks around her mouth, forehead and nose.

Admitting there was a change in the photos, Croucher said in the interview: “There were a number of days between when the two sets of photos were taken so bruising could have come up - my left eye is clearly more swollen and bruised.

“I was also very upset at the time.

“I had my makeup on so the black marks could be mascara under my eyes, which could have contaminated the photos.”

She also said her husband took his photos with the flash on, arguing the difference could be in the quality of the photo.

Croucher, who was suspended from Kent police, said: “I know I’ve done nothing wrong, and I know my husband hasn’t done anything wrong.”

The trial at Medway Magistrates' Court continues.