A MAN who claimed to have been robbed and had a knife put to his face has admitted to police he lied.

He has been issued with an £80 fixed penalty notice for wasting police time.

Richard Gelling, 41, falsely claimed two attackers confronted him in a Wisbech alleyway on Tuesday morning and stole cash from him.

Gelling had also wrongly claimed he handed over money to men who had allegedly confronted him in an alleyway off Market Place, near the junction with Hill Street.

Wisbech detectives who investigated the alleged incident checked out Gelling’s story and re-traced his movements from an amusement arcade where he had claimed he won £100 which his assailants had taken.

Det Insp Dave Murphy praised a “good investigation by local detectives” which unravelled the lie.

“Gelling claimed to have visited the amusement arcade before the reported robbery,” said Det Insp Murphy.

“A check of local CCTV also negated his version.”

He added: “When challenged this morning Gelling admitted he had cut himself with a razor blade in an alleyway and had then made up the robbery story.

“This incident caused a lot of anxiety in the area and took up a lot of police time. He went to great lengths to convince police that he had been genuinely robbed however has since admitted to have made it all up.

“We fully investigate all reports of serious crime and this took up a lot of officers’ time which would have been better spent dealing with other incidents.

“It is only right that he received some sort of punishment and hope that this will deter others from falsely reporting crime.”