A woman who lied to the police about her former lover exposing himself at her family’s posh Hampshire country house estate has been spared a prison sentence.

Sophia White had been living with her partner of eight years, Gregory Payne, in a home on the grounds of Wheely Down House, a £1.7m six-bedroom manor house in Warnford.

But Winchester Crown Court heard yesterday how 50-year-old White wanted to end their relationship and her family wanted to evict Mr Payne as a tenant. During this time, the court was told how the housekeeper, Sally Matthews, approached her in a distressed state, alleging Mr Payne had exposed himself in the garden.

Although White did not see her former boyfriend carry out the act, she lied to police that she had. With two witness statements, police charged him with a sexual offence and he appeared before magistrates, who then committed him to crown court. But in the lead-up to the court case, White wrote a letter to Mr Payne’s solicitor admitting she had lied.

With White’s witness statement turning out to be false, the case was dropped.

She was later arrested and interviewed. Dawn Hyland, prosecuting, said: “During the course of the interview the defendant was remorseful.

“Part of the reason she had admitted it was that she was concerned he would receive a prison sentence and she was fully prepared to face the consequence of her actions.”

White pleaded guilty at the first opportunity to perverting the course of justice. In mitigation, the court heard how White was battling an alcohol problem and had been suffering from a re-occurring bout of anorexia when she lied to police.

Adrian Fleming, defending, said her family had also been putting pressure on her to get rid of Mr Payne from their property. She said: “It was in those extreme circumstances she made the extremely foolish decision and she made a false statement to support the housekeeper, Miss Matthews.

“She honestly did not believe that things would take the turn they did, that it would be taken seriously and that he would be charged with the offences.”

He added that White took care of her elderly mother, who would suffer if her daughter was taken into custody. Judge Jane Miller said perverting the course of justice usually meant an immediate jail sentence. But she said: “I have been persuaded that it’s one of those exceptional cases where I can suspend the sentence.

“I think it is a wholly unusual case.”

A six-month sentence suspended for one year was handed down to White.