A man who sells pet food in England that attracted national attention in Britain with his claims he was making gallows for Libya has been exposed as a fraud.

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David Lucas, 45, attracted reporters to his pet food shop in Mildenhall, outside of which stands a gallows Lucas built to show his support for capital punishment.

He claimed he was selling them to the governments of Libya and Zimbabwe for as much as $22,000, The Times of London reported Thursday.

More than 30 British newspapers, along with the BBC and Sky News covered his story, which has fizzled out since his business partner, Brian Rutterford, came forward.

"It is a hoax that has got completely out of hand. I know David well, work closely with him and I know he has built one set of gallows -- the one that remains outside his shop on my land," he said. "The rest is rubbish."

Rutterford said Lucas had been keeping up the rumor because he likes talking to the media about capital punishment, the report said.

"If he was building gallows for foreign governments, I think I would know about it," he said.