Philip Brook, the editor of 'The Cambridge Student', has been sacked by the university after he allegedly posed as an anonymous female undergraduate student and sent rival news website 'The Tab' emails supposedly revealing that an unnamed senior tutor had offered "her a first class degree in return for sexual favours", the 'Daily Mail' reported.
Brook even backed the claim with a fake letter from St John's College senior tutor Dr Matthias Dorrzapf, that said an official probe was being launched into the allegations, the report said.
But the lies were exposed when 'The Tab' contacted Dr Dorrzapf who confirmed he had been away when he was supposed to have sent the letter; further checks revealed the emails were sent from a computer in Brook's room at Girton College.
However, Brook, a second year history student, has apologised, saying, "I recognise that my actions were a serious lapse of judgement and apologise unreservedly to all parties concerned.
"I would like to make it explicitly clear that I acted in entirely personal capacity. I did not at any point consult with anybody involved with The Cambridge Student. All members of the editorial team and board of directors were unaware of my actions until Tuesday evening."
Cambridge University has three student papers, the oldest of which is 'Varsity'. 'The Cambridge Student' was founded in 1999 and has a weekly print run of 10,000 copies during term time, apart from a website.
'The Tab' came into being in 2009 and claims to have 130,000 hits each week and 60,000 visitors each month.