Crocodile spotted in River Thames turns out to be James Bond prop

A reported sighting of a crocodile in the River Thames last week sent the public into a tailspin.
However, one local man has helped put the rumours to rest. He claims the alligator is a prop used in the James Bond film Live and Let Die.

Reports last week told how 64-year-old retired university lecturer Richard Smith had seen the monster in the river near his home in Reading, Berkshire while out cycling.

But on Saturday another local man, Michael Law, said it was a dummy man-eater from the scene from the film where 007 Roger Moore has to jump across the backs of alligators.

Mr Law said the prop was kept on an island on the Thames in Reading by boat expert Peter Wallace, former head of Caversham Boat Service, who worked on several James Bond and Indiana Jones films.

He said the fake alligator must have been washed from the island during floods and had been spotted by Mr Smith as it bobbed about on the river.

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