Thief 'drinks' work of art

An artist's latest work - a bottle of melted Antarctic ice - may have been stolen and drunk by a thirsty thief.

Artist Wayne Hill filled a two-litre clear plastic bottle with melted ice to highlight global warming.

But the artwork, valued at £42,500, went missing while on display at a literary festival, reports the Scotsman.

Entitled Weapon of Mass Destruction, it vanished halfway through the Ways with Words festival at Dartington Hall, Devon.

Mr Hill said: "It looked like an ordinary bottle of water, but it was on a plinth, labelled, described and in the programme of the whole festival.

"It was very, very clear what it was - a work of art."

The work uses water taken from the threatened west Antarctic ice sheet, which is currently melting at the rate of 250 cubic kilometres a year, he said.

Mr Hill added: "Nobody has any idea what has happened to it. It was there and then it was gone."