A LOYAL girlfriend has been fined after telling police her partner was not at home, only for them to find him minutes later hidden under the covers of a child's bed.

Police knocked on Tabitha Bailey's door just after 7am asking to speak to her partner but she told them he wasn't there.

But neighbours in Winston Way, Halstead, told officers they had seen the man they were looking for throughout the week and heard a male voice at the home.

The police then raided the property and found the man they were searching for hiding under a duvet.

Bailey, 29, admitted obstructing police when she appeared at Colchester Magistrates' Court on Tuesday.

Selena Dines, mitigating, said Bailey did not want her children's routine to be disrupted.

She said: "She has five young children and and they do not approve of the man as a suitable partner.

"She felt having the police come into the property to look for him would only antagonise the relationship between her children and her partner.

"I have told her she would have been well within her rights not to answer the questions from the police."

Magistrates fined Bailey £40 and ordered her to pay another £115 in additional court costs for the incident on March 21.