Looking for art in a needle

Willard Wigan's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Art which is small enough to fit into the eye of a needle has been stolen.

Three miniature carvings, worth £100,000, disappeared while being packed away after an exhibition in Covent Garden Market, London, last Thursday.

The pieces created by sculptor Willard Wigan were of Snow White and Seven Dwarfs, Tower Bridge and Jesus.

Each of them is less than a millimetre in size and is mounted in the eyes of needles.

'Irreplaceable' art

Mr Wigan, the Bath-based artist, said: "No human being can understand what I am feeling right now.

"Each of these pieces represent months of my life and are irreplaceable.

"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, in particular, is the finest piece I have ever done.

"I have put eight people into the eye of the needle. No-one else can do that."

The pieces were due to be exhibited in Japan next year.