A fake BBC News headline claiming former University of Cambridge professor Jason Arday plagiarised his resignation letter has been shared on social media.
The posts, shared on Facebook and X, show what appears to be a BBC News webpage featuring a photo of Arday and the headline: "Professor Jason Arday's letter of resignation plagiarised from 1999 resignation letter by professor in Oxford University".
However, the BBC News press office told Reuters in an August 14 email that the headline was not authentic.
Reuters found no credible evidence that the BBC published the headline or that Arday, who died last week, plagiarised his August 5 resignation letter from another professor.
Reuters reported that Arday was found dead on August 14 after weeks of scrutiny over allegations of plagiarism in his PhD thesis. Arday denied the allegations but acknowledged in an interview with The Times that he had made mistakes.
In a statement released after his death and provided by publisher Simon & Schuster UK, Arday's family said he had been subjected to sustained abuse and a campaign of misinformation.
"We won't comment further at this point beyond asking the press to leave us alone now, and to stop the campaign of harassment which has been waged against Jason and his family for too long," the statement added.
VERDICT
False. BBC News told Reuters the headline is not authentic, and Reuters found no evidence that the broadcaster published it.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work.
