Soho police force entry to help woman only to find artwork - BBC

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Police broke into an art gallery to aid an unconscious person inside before discovering it was an art installation.

Two officers saw a woman slumped over a table and forced entry to locked-up Laz Emporium in Soho, central London.

But the "woman" was actually made of packing tape and foam filler, and had been commissioned by Banksy's ex-agent.

The lifelike sculpture is a depiction of gallery owner Steve Lazarides' sister, Kristina, with her head in a bowl of soup.

He commissioned the piece from his friend, the US artist Mark Jenkins, who makes "provocative street sculptures".

Jenkins previously made a floating body sculpture in an Amsterdam canal that led to various emergency service callouts, the gallery owner said.

The Laz Emporium sculpture was commissioned to adorn or give an "art sprinkle" to a table in the gallery.

Mr Lazarides said: "I didn't want to have a £20,000 table without something funny or distressing to complement it.

"It's there to make people smile or to horrify, to get a reaction and to grab people's attention. People always stop and stare at the piece and it's great because they linger and come into the shop."

He added that his shop assistant who was there at the time of the police visit had gone up to make a cup of tea and was shocked to find two confused officers and an unhinged door.

A Met Police spokesperson said the force was called on 25 November to "concerns for the welfare of a person at a locked business premises" on Lexington Street.

"At approximately 17:57 GMT, officers forced entry to the address where they uncovered that the person was in fact a mannequin.

"The Met has a duty of care to respond when there are welfare concerns."