A man from Nelson whose lies to police landed one man in court and got another locked up has been sent to prison for four months.

Burnley Crown Court heard how Muneer Ahmed, 22, had given the name of a another man when stopped driving without insurance by police in November 2005.

The man was summonsed to court but the officer in the case said he was the wrong person.

The defendant was later disqualified from driving for two years for other reasons but got behind the wheel in less than a year.

He was stopped in a car he had borrowed but which police thought might be stolen. Ahmed was arrested, gave the name of the man who had lent him the car. The man was then locked up for three and a half hours in police cells, accused of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

The court was told how the defendant thought he had got away with it once and could do it again.

Ahmed, of Fountain Street, Nelson, admitted two counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice, driving whilst disqualified and no insurance.

He had no previous convictions.

Recorder Graham Knowles told him such offences wasted police time, attacked the integrity of the system and caused distress to the people who were named falsely by others.