Grandmother's tiger sculpture sparks armed police and helicopter response

The tiger turned out to be a life-size model by artist Juliet Simpson
Juliet Simpson

Armed police officers and a helicopter launched an urgent response to reports of a tiger on the loose, only to discover that it was a life-size model.

Officers responding to the call in Underriver, Kent, on Saturday had a "good laugh" after the sculptor, Juliet Simpson showed them to her creation near a footpath in some woodlands.

​Her granddaughter, Martha Simpson posted a photo on Twitter showing a group of armed guards surrounded by the tiger model.

She wrote: "My Granny is a sculptress. Today 10 armed police and a helicopter were called to her house after walkers reported a tiger in the woods. This is the tiger."

After the incident, Kent Police said it found there was "no animal and no risk to the public".

Artist Juliet Simpson, 85, told BBC Radio Kent: "I took them down to the sculpture where they all had a good laugh and took a lot of photographs."

She told the broadcaster that she had set off up the lane near her home after a neighbour told her police were investigating reports of a big cat on the loose.

The tiger turned out to be a life-sized model by artist Juliet Simpson
Juliet Simpson

"Out of the field opposite came a whole crowd of armed police, who by then knew that it was all a false alarm and I said 'would they like to be introduced to my real live tiger?'" she said.

"It looks quite real, it's meant to look real and it is about 30 metres from the footpath so you can't see it very closely."

The wire and resin artwork has been in those woodlands near a public path for at least 20 years, she added.

Kent Police told the BBC that officers were sent to Mote Road in Ightham, near Underriver, "following a report from a member of the public that a large wild cat had been seen in the area".

"Officers, including armed officers, attended as a precaution and, following a search of the area, have established there was no animal and no risk to the public."

A helicopter from the National Police Air Service also briefly attended.

The Evening Standard has contacted Kent Police for comment.

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