Stabbing ‘victim’ says “I’m sorry”

A Welshpool man who sparked a massive manhunt after claiming to have been stabbed on his way to work has issued a public apology to the town’s Polish community.

The man said he was attacked on the canal path during a bungled robbery on November 28 at 5.45am. The scene was closed off and MyWelshpool issued an urgent appeal for information for help after he indicated that the ‘robbers’ were Polish.

But later in the day the allegations were retracted and the man, who we are not naming, was fined £80 for wasting police time. This morning he has issued a “heartfelt and sincere” apology.

“I would like to apologise to the Polish Community for wrongly accusing them for something that didn’t happen,” he said. “I would also like to apologise to the police for wasting their time in relation to the lie that I told. I made up the story that morning because I was late for work. I didn’t want to get in trouble with work so I told them a white lie that got out of hand.”

However, the incident caused tensions within the local community and police admitted at the time that they were monitoring comments made on social media.

“Following a very thorough investigation by CID officers, it came to light that no such robbery had taken place and that the alleged victim had in fact made the whole thing up,” said PC Jim Baines. “The investigation has also vindicated the Polish community which was unfairly tainted by these allegations.”

It was the second such allegation made within two months, with the first by a different man relating to an allegation being made up to cover his own tracks after stealing family property.