Claims by a teen tourist who alleged that he had lost his finger in an anti-British racist attack on St Patrick’s Day have been sensationally disproved.

Guy Wallace, 17, originally told police his finger was severed by a gang who attacked him because he was English.

But after tracking the boy's movements on CCTV garda found his finger lodged in a fence the boy had tried to scale.

Mr Wallace claimed last week that the gang callously ignored his desperate pleas for mercy before jumping on his finger.

Gardaí had said after the boy’s claims that they were "happy Mr Wallace was not dismembered during an assault".

But the boy’s father, Conservative Party Councillor William Wallace, had said it was "ridiculous" to suggest that his son was injured in any other way.

After hearing of the find, his father William and mother, Lucy, insisted that their son had genuinely believed he lost his finger in an assault.

A Garda spokesman said: "Gardai investigating the alleged serious assault are now satisfied that the injured party lost part of his finger while attempting to scale a fence in a laneway off Parnell Street, Dublin.

"Investigations are continuing regarding a minor assault which took place earlier in the O'Connell Street area."