Foreign Office 'Bin' Bin Laden Cop

A top cop, who dressed up as terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, in public, has been dismissed from his Afghanistan-based job.

Chief Superintendent Colin Terry of the Devon and Cornwall Police worked helping to build Afghanistan's security forces.

Mr Terry dressed up as the radical terrorist at a village fair, donned in Arab robes, turban and facemask.

A photographer snapped him disguised as the 9/11 architect, and the incident was brought to the attention of the Independent Police Complaints Commission by officers from his own force.

The Foreign Office has now dismissed Mr Terry from his policing contract in Afghanistan.

"Chief Superintendent Colin Terry will not be returning to the EUPOL mission," a spokesman for the Foreign Office said.

EUPOL is a European Union-backed police training scheme.

Locals at the charity fete were said to be shocked at Mr Terry's choice of costume, as were his Devon and Cornwall police colleagues.

Mr Terry said he was surprised by the furore caused.

"I am quite horrified that someone would see this negatively," he was quoted as saying in the Guardian newspaper at the time. "This is a local event that has been running for many, many years, raising money for charity."

(PR/JM)