A MARRIED police officer who tried to cover up for his lover when she was caught shoplifting was jailed for four months yesterday.

Pc Andrew Reid, 45, and his married lover Sally Gent, 39, embarked on an "elaborate and contrived" plan so that she would escape having a police record, Norwich Crown Court heard today.

The court heard Reid was having an affair with Gent, who attempted to use their intimate relationship to her advantage when she was caught stealing items from a supermarket in Norfolk.

Reid, of Enfield, had pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice at an earlier hearing.