Hindley picture dampens Olympic handover

Updated 22.24 Sun Aug 24 2008

While Olympic handover celebrations were underway in London, Downing Street was condemning the city's tourism body after a painting of Moors Murderer Myra Hindley was shown on a promotional video being screened in Beijing.

The video showed iconic London landmarks and images of Capital life.

"The use of this image is in extremely poor taste and it should not have been used to promote London" - Downing Street

Prime Minister Gordon Brown attended a celebratory party in Beijing's London House, where the three-minute film was being shown, which was intended to highlight the Capital's rich cultural heritage ahead of the 2012 games.

The notorious piece of art by Marcus Harvey was seen during a segment of the video filmed in a gallery where it was on display.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "The use of this image is in extremely poor taste and it should not have been used to promote London."

A spokesman for London Mayor Boris Johnson said: "The Mayor is deeply concerned by the realisation that a shot of Myra Hindley was shown in a short video at London House and asked that it not be shown again."

The painting, made from children's handprints, was vandalised with ink and eggs while on display in the Royal Academy's Sensation exhibition in 1997.

Liberal Democrat Olympics spokesman Tom Brake said: "British art definitely represents some of the 'best of British', but of all the many masterpieces that could could have been used this was the most regrettable and the least inspired choice."

The controversial video was also available on a Visit London website designed to encourage visitors from around the world to come to the city.