A CANCER sufferer was arrested and locked up in a police cell for five hours after a man she has a restraining order against made a false complaint about her.

Lisa Kaley, from Stanford-le-Hope, has stage four breast cancer which cannot be cured.

The 39-year-old mum-of-three was horrified when the police turned up at her house in Abbotts Hall Chase to arrest her following a row she’d had with a man earlier that morning.

Lisa was in Corringham when she was approached by the man, who she has a five-year restraining order against.

After Lisa ignored him, he followed her to a bus stop and allegedly began harrassing her again.

Lisa intended to report him when she got home, but the man phoned police himself first and claimed Lisa assaulted him.

Lisa said: “After I got home there was a knock on the front door.

“Two male officers told me they received a call from the man, stating I had physically assaulted him in the park and they were there to arrest me. I explained what really happened, showed them the paperwork for the restraining order, and told them I was ill with cancer.

“I said I was just about to call and report the incident, but they were adamant I had to be arrested and taken to the station to be questioned.

“I became very distressed and asked them if they had any common sense or empathy, but I was told to calm down.”

Lisa said she was assured she would be dealt with as a priority and would not be left waiting.

After arriving at Grays police station at around 11am, she was fingerprinted and put in a cell.

Over the next five hours she kept asking when she was going to be seen, but no one could tell her.

Lisa was eventually interviewed at 4.15pm and told there would be no action against her.

When she tried to report the breach of the restraining order, Lisa said she was told it was a “your word against his situation” as she hadn’t phoned police first.

She said: “I’m at a loss to understand why the police couldn’t have dealt with this another way.

“It just did not matter to them that I have cancer and a restraining order. It all boiled down to the fact I didn’t phone them first.”

An Essex Police spokesman said: “We are sorry to hear this lady feels aggrieved, and would invite her to contact our professional standards department should she want to complain formally to us.”