Thames croc may have been a movie prop

A crocodile spotted in the River Thames may have been a prop from a James Bond film.

Former university lecturer Richard Smith recently claimed he had seen the reptile near his home in Reading.

But local man Michael Law believes it was a dummy from a scene in Live and Let Die in which Roger Moore, as 007, has to jump across the backs of alligators.

Mr Law said the prop was kept on an island on the Thames 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 been spotted by Mr Smith as it bobbed about on the river.

A spokesman for Caversham Boat Services confirmed there used to be a prop on the island, but could not say whether it was still there.