A great big Buddha has sprung up among the shrubs and hydrangeas of a residential front garden.

The impressive marble statue has made neighbours, passing motorists and even police cars stop in their tracks.

Pauline Thomas acquired her one-and-a-half tonne ornament from a friend who had imported it from Vietnam but had nowhere to store it.

It was positioned in her garden in Cranleigh Road, Worthing, by a crane.

Mrs Thomas and her husband, Ray, who are both retired, now sit by their living room window and chuckle at the astonishment their statue causes among unsuspecting strollers.

Although to Mr and Mrs Thomas it is just a very heavy lump of marble, to some of their neighbours the Eastern ornament symbolises something more spiritual.

Mrs Thomas said: "Buddha's lovely, bless him. People come and ask if they can touch him and one lady up the road even asked if she could have her photo taken with him.

"There was a car crash outside here recently and I thought, 'Oh no, I hope that wasn't caused by the driver looking at Buddha'.

"When the police car drove past they looked twice and the ambulance man did the same."