A CONTROVERSIAL artist faces a police investigation after a swastika design he made to bring attention to his work sparked fury.

Northumbria Police said they wanted to question George French, 53, whose circular 12ft-wide flower bed creation was criticised by Jewish groups and church leaders when unveiled last year.

Officers would not reveal the nature of the inquiry or say whether the complaints received were from individuals or groups.

They have yet to speak to Mr French, who said his work at South Highbury allotments, in Jesmond, Newcastle, was educational.

A police spokesman said: "I can confirm that we have had two complaints about the work and are investigating."

The new-age environmental artist was denounced in December when it was revealed the Government-backed Arts Council of England had given his project £600.

He claims his design, created on an allotment plot by planting 500 1ft-high green willow sets, is not a symbol of the Third Reich.

Instead, he said it represented the "holocaust" of the British countryside, caused by the foot-and-mouth epidemic two years ago, and other environmental destruction.

Jewish groups and the Church of England condemned his use of the swastika, which lies in a plot about 30 yards from a road and a terrace of houses.

The Representative Council for North-East Jewry responded to his project by claiming the use of the swastika image was insensitive and liable to cause upset.

The Church of England Newcastle Diocese has said the image was "very hurtful" and "done without much thought".

Northern Arts, which is based in Newcastle, has refused to condemn the design.