A Cambridge graduate who described herself as the “office cougar” has been jailed for falsely claiming she was having affairs with her married male colleagues.

Software engineer Jeevani Wickramaratna, 44, spun a web of deceit, bombarding the men with sexually explicit messages, emailing their wives and even falsely claiming one man had HIV.

She was found guilty of sexual harassment and jailed for 26 weeks by District Judge David Parsons, who blasted her "complete fantasy world".

He said: "They trusted you and you abused that trust and during the trial you repeated the wicked allegations you made against each one of them and it is eminently clear that you are completely incapable of telling the truth."

Wickramaratna called herself a cougar, a term used to describe an older woman who pursues younger men.

She became infatuated with co-worker Paul Stokes after he emailed her offering her some of his birthday cake, and went on to besiege him with emails and Facebook messages, South Somerset Magistrates Court in Yeovil heard.

www.telegraph.co.uk