Sky News reports on the Cheryl Cole email hoax

It said the emails it based its story on had in fact been sent by a hoaxer who was masquerading as the singer.

MC Harvey, a former member of So Solid Crew, was also apparently taken in by the hoax and last year got into a public Twitter row with Cole after she denied the claims.

Cole tweeted at the time: “Was this ‘relationship’ happening in your head @harveyofficial?! Are you smoking something?”

MC Harvey – whose real name is Michael Harvey Jr – tweeted back insisting that the singer had been emailing him.

Now magazine, which features celebrity news and gossip, has set the record straight in its latest edition and admitted its February 2012 story was without foundation.

“Sorry Cheryl. There was no romance with Harvey – we got it wrong,” reads its front cover.

Inside the apology continues: “Although we have seen several hundred emails, written over a six-month period, apparently between Cheryl, her mother and Michael, we are now satisfied that the emails from Cheryl and her mother are not genuine.

“They appear to be the work of a calculated and meticulous hoaxer masquerading as Cheryl who went to great lengths to deceive Mr Harvey.”

It added: “We’re sorry, Cheryl, for any embarrassment and upset we have caused you. We have agreed to pay Cheryl damages and legal costs.”