The most famous athlete never to have broken 4 minutes for 1500m has been arrested in Manchester, the Lufbra Echo can exclusively reveal. Pete Matthews was taken into custody in the early hours of this morning after insisting on autographing the breasts of an undercover police officer. The red head was "getting out of hand" after edging closer to the so far elusive 16 minute barrier for 5km at the National Cross Country Relays in Mansfield. The former GB International (Mountain Running) clocked an impressive 16:17 on the course, but now must face the increasing questions surrounding his inability to handle fame. Matthews is alleged to have spent much of the evening offering signed photographs (for a small fee) to everyone he came into contact with - none of whom had any idea who he was. The idea of "signed body parts" was only dreamt up when the Blackburn star had drunk "a significant volume" of alcohol, according to bystanders. Matthews is said to have insisted on calling some "big name athletes" to inform them of his arrest but had to leave answer phone messages after the calls were screened.
Matthews - who is rumoured to be appearing on the next series of ITV's Celebrity Fit Club - headed directly to Manchester after the race where he proclaimed himself to be "back in the game". Unfortunately, his night ended shortly after 1am when he was led away and forced to call in his legal team to get him out of this latest scandal. "He hasn't been released yet," said an insider "apparently he is going to be charged with assaulting a police officer. He's upbeat though and says that prison life will do wonders for his weight loss." The arrest comes at the end of a difficult week for the disgraced AAAs fraudster who found out only yesterday that he would not be included in the latest wave of UK Athletics funded athletes. His publicist, Max Clifford, stated that it was "UKA's loss" at the time and has pledged to stand by his man in the coming weeks. "It's going to be tough, but I'll be there for him," said Clifford, "the guy is clearly a flawed genius. You look at the exceptional people in this world and they all have problems- just look at Paul Gascoigne. Let's get behind him and help the lad through it."