A police officer was hurt when he fell over on Cleeve Hill while trying to find a woman who claimed she was seriously injured but who had faked an injury.

Megan Wilson admitted two charges of wasting police time when she appeared at Cheltenham Magistrates' Court. It heard that the 25-year-old of Kingsmead Avenue, Springbank, Cheltenham, twice pretended to be badly injured on the hill over four days in July of last year.

Prosecuting, Hester Jenkins said the first incident was at about 8pm on July 4 and began with Wilson telling the ambulance service that she had jumped off a cliff on the hill - which is the highest point in the Cotswolds.

She told the call handler that she could not feel her legs, leading to the police, fire and ambulance service all going to the scene.

But, Miss Jenkins said, the police found her in a different spot to the one where she told the ambulance service she was, and they believed it would have been impossible for her to sustain the injuries she said she had at that location.

The prosecutor added that she contradicted herself about where her injuries were on her body before she was stretchered down the hill and taken to Southmead Hospital in Bristol. There, staff found she did not have any injuries.

Then on July 7, Wilson's mother called the emergency services to report that her daughter had gone to Cleeve Hill after saying she was going to harm herself.

Miss Jenkins said it was 2am and so police used torches to try to find her in the dark on the hill. One officer fell and hurt his back, causing him to be off work for a time.

The prosecutor said: "She was saying that she couldn't breathe. She was taken to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital and, again, was released without any injuries."

Defending, Gemma Walsh said Wilson had been diagnosed with Unstable Personality Disorder but was being helped by her family and mental health services.

She said: "She is medicated now, which she wasn't at the time. She has a baby, which she didn't at the time."

She added: "Prior to this, she was of good character. She is a lady who was struggling but has made good progress since."

District Judge Nicholas Wattam said Wilson's behaviour had been out of character and he asked her if she was "in a better place" mentally than when the offences happened. She told him she was.

He gave her a 12-month community order, told her she must engage with the probation service and ordered her to pay £300 compensation to the officer who was injured while searching for her.