Jogger's murder inspires artwork

The picture will be shown at London's National Gallery

The murder of US artist Margaret Muller, stabbed to death while jogging in a London park, has inspired an artwork for display in the capital.

Artist Tom Hunter used headlines from his local newspaper as the inspiration for his photo of Ms Muller's death.

The piece - Murder: Two Men Wanted - is styled on pre-Raphaelite paintings. It will be shown at the National Gallery.

A coroner recorded an unlawful killing verdict on Ms Muller, 27, who was found in Victoria Park in February 2003.

Margaret Muller was stabbed 49 times in Hackney's Victoria Park

An inquest heard that Miss Muller, who studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, suffered multiple stab wounds.

A reward of £15,000 is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of her attacker.

Tom Hunter, 38, who was born in Bournemouth and has lived in Hackney for the past 20 years, insisted his work was not gratuitous.

"I take my inspiration from headlines in my local paper and this murder was quite prominent," he said. "Murder seems to be quite a common theme in Hackney."

'Not specific'

He said he had used the story as a starting point and then "weaved fiction into the fact".

"I have changed some of the detail so it is not specific to this particular victim.

"For that reason I didn't feel as though I needed to contact her family and ask permission because the photograph is not meant to represent what actually happened, it is just about the headline."

The work is inspired by A Satyr Mourning Over A Nymph (1495) by Florentine artist Piero di Cosimo, which also hangs in the National Gallery and depicts a nymph lying on the grass with wounds to her hand, wrist and throat.

Mr Hunter's work will go on display at the Trafalgar Square gallery in November.