Darius Davies pretends to have been on stag do flight

Comedian Darius Davies has duped BBC News into letting him on air – where he made up a story about a rowdy airline passenger twirling his penis around.

The stand-up told viewers of the 24-hour news channel that the drunk man had shouted: 'I don't care if we crash, I have a helicopter!' as he span his genitalia around.

He contacted journalists on the channel after hearing the story of a Ryanair flight from Luton to Bratislava being diverted to Berlin because a stag party became embroiled in a dangerous brawl.

The BBC put out a call for witnesses, and Davies emailed in – using his real name – and claiming to have been on the flight. He even said he had seen the groom 'teabag' another passenger by dipping his testicles into his mouth and claimed: 'I think I can describe the groom's penis as I saw it a lot.'

Davies said the journalist had not asked him basic questions about the flight number or length of delay, which could have caught him out because of his 'lazy' approach to researching his tall tale. 'With the merest bit of probing I would have crumbled and revealed that I wasn't actually on the flight,' he wrote on his website.

The journalist bought the story and put Davies on air just before 11am yesterday via Skype. During the interview, he also told viewers that he saw the man 'place his genitalia on the seat in front of him and say, "Do you like tea?"'

'It sounds funny now but it wasn't at the time,' he told interviewer Joanna Gosling. And as their conversation ends, Davies was seen trying to stifle a laugh.

A BBC spokesman said: 'It appears this gentleman misrepresented himself and is actually a comedian - viewers can judge for themselves whether it was funny. We are looking at our guest booking procedures.'

Davies's interview was also picked up by the Daily Mirror, which reported it as fact.

Six of the 12 men on the stag do were arrested by German police and charged with air safety offences which carry a maximum fine of £20,000.

Groom Joshua Mariner, from Southampton, issued a statement saying he was not one of those arrested and said: "The lads' behaviour was unacceptable and they will now have to suffer the consequences of their actions.'

Video footage showed a passenger angrily confronting another man before throwing a punch at him.

Ryanair said the airline has 'strict guidelines' to deal with disruptive and drunk customers.

Published: 2 Mar 2016