London, England - British police said on Wednesday they had made an official complaint to the country's television regulator saying a documentary about British mosques had contained misleading footage.
The Channel 4 Dispatches programme "Undercover Mosque", broadcast in January, purported to feature "chilling sermons" from Saudi-trained preachers which were secretly recorded by an undercover reporter.
"Dispatches reveals how a message of hatred and segregation is being spread throughout the UK and examines how it is influenced by the religious establishment of Saudi Arabia," the programme's Web site said.
The claims were investigated by police in the West Midlands, central England, who found there was insufficient evidence to charge the speakers featured in the documentary, even though they said some of the speeches might be considered "offensive".
Instead, prosecutors said the footage, which provoked anger among Britain's 1.7 million Muslims, had been "heavily edited" and the speeches appeared to be "taken out of context".
"The splicing together of extracts from longer speeches appears to have completely distorted what the speakers were saying," said Crown Prosecution Service lawyer Bethan David.
After their initial investigation, police turned their attention to whether the programme-makers themselves were guilty of inciting racial hatred.
But detectives concluded there was not enough evidence and have made a formal complaint to Ofcom, the television watchdog.
Channel 4 denied any wrongdoing, saying the police had no evidence for their allegations and that it was confident of defending itself against any complaint of unfairness.
The row is the latest controversy to embroil the publicly-owned broadcaster.
In May, it was severely criticised by Ofcom for "serious editorial misjudgement" over its handling of a racism row on last year's "Celebrity Big Brother" show.
In July, a phone regulator imposed a fine on it over a show which asked viewers to telephone to take part in a quiz even though winners had already been chosen.