A vandal has knocked over a controversial waxwork nativity scene which portrays David Beckham as Joseph and his wife Victoria as the Virgin Mary.

Yesterday afternoon a male visitor to the exhibit at Madame Tussauds dashed out of the queue and knocked over the statues of the Beckhams, damaging their heads, before running away. The baby Jesus was unhurt.

The museum has closed the exhibit and taken the two waxworks away for repair. Police are understood to be examining CCTV footage for clues to the identity of the culprit.

Church leaders criticised the tableau after it opened last Tuesday, saying it was disrespectful.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the leader of the Roman Catholic church in Britain, said: "To have a very special part of Christianity depcted in this way and its most precious symbol, which is the coming of God into the world in Jesus Christ, seems to me to be not just disrespectful to Christians, it is also disrespectful to the heritage of Britain and also does damage to the culture of this country."

The Reverend Jonathan Jenkins, the spokesman for the Archbishop of Canterbury, said: "There is a well-understood tradition that each generation interprets and reinterprets the nativity... but, oh dear!"

Today a spokeswoman admitted that Madame Tussauds had received 70 complaints about the tableau, which also features Tony Blair, President Bush and Prince Philip as the three wise men, Hugh Grant and Graham Norton as shepherds and Kylie Minogue as an angel. The exhibit has however drawn large crowds.

"The vast majority of people have taken it in the spirit in which it is intended - a bit of festive fun," said Diane Moon, the spokeswoman.

"We are assessing the damage now, we don't know if it is going to be repairable in a day or if it will take longer."

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