Ananova:

An Austrian man ended up in hospital after he faked an armed robbery because he was too scared to tell his wife he had lost thousands of pounds in a casino.

Josef Reiner, 26, from Vienna, broke his nose, jaw and arm as he beat himself with an iron bar to make the fake robbery seem authentic.

But he had to admit himself to hospital when the pain of his injuries got too much.

And when police officers were called in by hospital doctors, Reiner confessed what had really happened.

A police spokesman said: "He must have been very afraid of his wife to inflict so much pain on himself rather than just confess to her."