She has shared the screen with Oscar winners and become the envy of every Sussex schoolgirl.

But the part Dakota Blue Richards played in knocking down a community's favourite snowman won her less than favourable reviews.

The star of blockbuster movie The Golden Compass was with a group that kicked to pieces a snowman and snow dog that brought a neighbourhood together in the weekend's wintry weather.

Miss Richards has admitted she and her friends knocked them down as part of a game.

The 13-year-old's agent said the incident had been taken the wrong way.

Abe Resteto, 40, was working at the David's News corner shop in Livingstone Road, Hove, when thick snow fell across the county.

When he and a friend began to build the snowman, people in the street bonded around the project, with passers-by pitching in to help.

He said: "We put our heart and soul into that snowman.

"People were coming up and giving us stuff like coal for the eyes. A little girl brought the carrot.

"It was a real team effort."

Passers-by stopped to take photographs and the snowman's proud creators sent them to The Argus to help our coverage of the day's snowy fun.

Mr Resteto said: "It was an amazing day.

"We were taking the snow off the roofs of cars.

"The neighbours got involved. People driving by must have taken about 50 photographs of this snowman."

But after 6pm a group of girls arrived and set about destroying the community's handiwork.

Mr Resteto said there was no mistaking the famous child star among the gang.

He said: "She comes into the shop.

"I know who she is. I just treat her like another customer.

"For the day to end the way it did was sad."

Miss Richards was recently featured in The Argus returning to her old school, St Paul's Primary in Brighton.

Mr Resteto said: "I got two copies of The Argus to get an autograph from her.

"Now I don't even want her autograph.

"She went from cool to uncool in a very short space of time."

But a spokeswoman for Miss Richards's agents, ARG Ltd in London, said: "It was a game that obviously somewhere along the way went awry.

"It was not done with malicious intent at all."

Miss Richards is appearing at the Brighton Children's Book Festival on Saturday April 19 to answer questions from the audience about her role in The Golden Compass, an adaptation of the first volume of Philip Pullman's trilogy His Dark Materials.

She was chosen ahead of 10,000 rivals for the part of Lyra Belacqua, acting alongside Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman and James Bond star Daniel Craig.

Her next film, The Secret of Moonacre, also starring Tim Curry and Juliet Stevenson, is due to be released in August this year.