Sadly, that three-legged goat story was too good to be true

A Facebook post where a man claims to have been duped by someone pretending to sell a three-legged Jack Russell when in fact it was actually a goat, sadly turns out to have been a joke (and a stolen one at that).

Andy Lyon's comedic post on Facebook, where he appealed for help after realising his mistake, went viral with many people thinking it was real and he ended up being interviewed by his local paper, the Warrington Guardian.

Although he admitted it was only a joke, saying he had done it to "give everyone else a laugh", it was later discovered that he pinched the gag from comedian Chris Washington who had previously posted it in the HINDLEY BUY SELL SWAP OR GIVE AWAY group.

Writing on Facebook, Washington explained his frustration that, as a writer and comedian, someone would steal a joke without giving him credit.

It's great when [a newspaper] wants to do a story on something funny you've wrote. What isn't great is when you realise that it isn't you that they're giving the credit to but some cheeky cheeky b@~#@rd who copied and pasted it word for word and passed it off as their own.

• Chris Washington