A WOMAN who backed up her criminal brother with a false alibi has avoided following him into prison.

Jacquline McTaggart, 28, was sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court for giving police incorrect information in March last year.

McTaggart falsely told officers verbally, and then in a written statement, that Kevin McTaggart was with her at the time he allegedly committed an offence.

That led to her appearing in court where she pleaded guilty to one count of an act intending to pervert the course of public justice.

McTaggart was said to have given the false alibi while her brother was being investigated by police.

Prosecutor Gerard Rogerson told the court: “Miss McTaggart was contacted by the investigating officer. She confirmed her brother had been with her.”

She falsely backed this up in an official police document despite being reminded of the need to be truthful.

But evidence then came to light to show that Kevin McTaggart and his sister could not have been together at the stated time.

He was later jailed for four years in November having committed a dozen crimes across west Cumbria.

Substantial mitigation was given on behalf of Jacquline McTaggatt, a mother of three young children. She was said to be “distressed” and “anxious” by the prospect of custody, and had been subjected to intimidation from her brother.

Judge Peter Hughes QC told McTaggart, of Milton Road, Egremont, she had been “extremely foolish”. But he suspended a four-month prison sentence for 12 months.