Newcastle Evening Chronicle reporter Sarah Knapton may be a law abiding citizen, but that didn’t stop her getting a taste of ‘porridge’ when she fell foul of the boys in blue for a recent feature in the paper.

The 26-year-old journalist decided to give readers an insight into the workings of the legal system as part of Inside Justice Week, and in her bid to bring them the real story she was arrested, convicted and sentenced to four months in prison!

And although Sarah’s experience may have been purely fictional – her charge of assault causing actual bodily harm was part of a scenario devised by the police – her account of what happened was so realistic that some readers and even a few of her friends thought that Sarah had been actually been sent to jail.

Sarah said: “I was given a taste of what the whole process is like, from being arrested to going on trial, and even though I knew it wasn’t real it was still quite intimidating.”

The chief district reporter’s brush with the law began in a cell at Newcastle police station after a ‘drunken assault’ on a fellow reveller while on a night out.

And after a few hours in custody where she was allowed to ‘sober up’, she was photographed, finger-printed, drug-tested, and DNA checked before being formally charged – and remanded in custody because of the seriousness of the crime.

Sarah then found herself in the dock before Newcastle magistrates, and the case did not look good. Although she pleaded guilty she had orginally denied the charge, and as magistrates retired pending pre-sentence reports she was warned she could face jail.

And worse was to come when she was found guilty and sentenced to four months in Low Newton women’s prison.

Sarah said: “The trial was really interesting and had been set up with a mitigation lawyer and prosecution who were in character the whole time.

“Covering the courts I thought I knew what to expect, but there were a few surprises.

“The cells are a really sterile environment and you don’t get any privacy. I had my fingerprints taken and some swabs and was struck by how long it all took.

“It was fun to do but I definitely wouldn’t want to spend a night in the cells for real.”

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