Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a false arrest, based on concocted or fraudulent evidence; also in non-police contexts.

1992		in R. Graef Living Dangerously 187: In the end I got a stitch-up (framed).
1999		Indep. 16 Oct. 4: Both stood firmly for Ken (Livingstone) against the scandal of the mayoral stitch-up.
2000		Guardian 6 Jan. 7: A [...] spokeswoman vehemently denied there had been any stitch-up.
2004		L. Redhead Peepshow [ebook] It was a strip show and this is a stitch-up.
2010		K. Richards Life 225: Brian Jones was simultaneously busted [...] The stitch-up was orchestrated and synchronized with rare precision.
2016		in Guardian 30 June 🌐 This [i.e. the Tory leadership contest] is a terrible-twosome stitch-up from the start.

2. corruption, cheating.

2016

Sun. Times (London) 16 Oct. 🌐 Liston was knocked out by an apparently innocuous blow [...] and the headlines that followed screamed of a stitch-up.