Teenager fined after faked stabbing in Dudley
A teenager who claimed to have been stabbed on a canal towpath has been fined after video revealed he injured himself in a failed stunt.
The 19-year-old, who has not been named, told police he was stabbed in the chin with a knife and then thrown into a canal in Dudley on 17 May.
But a video on his stepfather's phone later showed he injured himself in a failed attempt to jump over the canal.
The teenager and his stepfather were fined for wasting police time.
West Midlands Police said they had published the video online to deter others from attempting a similar stunt.
They said the young man had called officers out of embarrassment, to avoid telling his family the truth.
Detectives launched an investigation, searching for three men in hooded tops on a canal towpath.
It was thought the offenders could have been distant relatives, who had allegedly sent threatening text messages to the 19-year-old's stepfather.
The force said that as part of the investigation, officers carried out a forensic examination of his stepfather's phone and were shocked by what they found.
Det Sgt Jim Munro, from the Force Criminal Investigation Department, said: "That's when we knew he'd actually made the whole thing up and that even his stepfather was in on the conspiracy.
"Both were arrested for perverting the course of justice and immediately admitted that it was all fabrication.
"They were both fined but they were lucky, because wasting police time carries a maximum sentence of six months imprisonment."