It seemed like a good idea at the time. The sculpture of the murder victim, sprawled on a Cornish beach surrounded by crime scene tape, was skilful enough to win a team from Devon and Cornwall police first prize in a beach games competition.
But not everyone has seen the funny side of the figure created on Perranporth beach: a voluptuous woman with seaweed for hair and the supposed murder weapon sticking out of her back – a green plastic beach spade.
#devonandcornwall #police team won the tug of war and the sandcastle competition at yesterday's #CornwallBeachGames pic.twitter.com/6fKy8pOJzz
— Truro Police (@PoliceTruro) May 14, 2016
When the team tweeted a gleeful picture and messages boasting of their victory the response was swift. “How inappropriate can you get? Shame on them,” one tweet said.
A local councillor, Hanna Toms, said: “It missed the mark for me. I think it is in poor taste. Some people would have seen it and it may have reminded them of past experiences. This is a coastal community and people will have lost loved ones in the sea.”
She added that portraying the victim as a curvy woman was “unhelpful”.
Despite others on Twitter describing the sculpture as “harmless fun”, the police issued an apology.
A spokesman said: “The sand sculpture competition was entered in good faith and no staff have meant to cause any offence.
“The event was a great success for all those involved, and if any offence has been caused by the nature of the sculpture, this was never intended and we apologise for that.”
