Forty-nine-year-old Jean-Rock Coupal has been sentenced to a year in jail after pleading guilty to falsely leading the RCMP and police in Romania to investigate an alleged terrorist plot.

The case began when the Montreal man called the Romanian embassy in Ottawa in 2006.

He claimed he was aware of a terrorist plot to detonate a bomb inside the metro system in Bucarest.

Coupal identified the ring leader as a Romanian woman who was seeking refugee status in Montreal.

The RCMP, Interpol and the Romanian authorities took the threat seriously enough to launch a full-scale investigation.

As it turned out, Coupal had made up the story after having his advances rejected by the Romanian woman.

When she turned him down, he sought revenge, by falsely denouncing her as a terrorist.

Because he pleaded guilty, the prosecution dropped the more serious charge of conspiracy to commit a terrorist act.

"He recognizes the facts, he recognizes he made a mistake, this is what he told the judge," said his defence lawyer David Petranic. "My client recognizes that he needs help."

Coupal has a lengthy criminal record, mostly for fraud.

However, he also faces charges of possessing child pornography.

Police say they stumbled on illegal images when they searched his computer during the investigation.

His trial for that case is still pending.