Juanita Fenech, a 52-year-old legal procurator from Attard, was given a six-month jail term suspended for four years for filing a false police report accusing her estranged husband of not paying child maintenance.

Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera also ordered the general interdiction of Ms Fenech for five years.

She magistrate heard how Ms Fenech had asked her lawyer to formally request the police to take action against her husband, Mario Fenech, for failing to pay maintenance between November 2011 and May 2012.

However, from the evidence it resulted clearly that Mr Fenech had presented a cheque of €600 every four weeks according to court orders.

When faced with this, Ms Fenech denied asking her lawyer to make the formal police request and also said that it could be that he failed to make one payment.

The magistrate felt that it had been sufficiently proven that Ms Fenech had accused her husband of committing a crime when she knew he was innocent.

The magistrate also noted that Ms Fenech had a previous conviction for fraud and making malicious use of a forged document.

Police Inspector Jonathan Ransley prosecuted.