A MAN in debt has been fined for lying to police - wrongly claiming his Burnley home had been burgled.

And police today warned they would prosecute people caught making bogus claims.

The man was slapped with a £80 fixed penalty notice for wasting police time after he called officers from a phone box on December 23 saying his Tiber Avenue home had been broken into.

The man later confessed he had made up the incident because he was in debt.

Sgt Martin Selway said all allegations of crime made to police would be thoroughly investigated.

He added: "We are taking a very hard line on this because there is an element of people prepared to make false allegations for insurance purposes."