Designer claims to have created Isle of Wight monolith ‘purely for fun’

A designer has claimed to have created a monolith which was found on a beach on the Isle of Wight.

The mirrored pillar was discovered on Compton Beach on Sunday after others turned up as far apart as the USA and Romania.

Tom Dunford, 29, from Fishbourne, West Sussex, told the BBC that he created the structure "purely for fun".

He said: "If the aliens were to come down I think they'd go for the safest place which is the Isle of Wight in Tier 1 (Covid restrictions).

"When I saw the first one pop up (in Utah) I thought it was brilliant, the second one popped up and I had a text from a friend which said 'You're the man that can do this on the island'."

The National Trust said it has placed rangers at the beach to prevent any overcrowding as people have been travelling to the site to take photographs.

The first metal edifice was found planted in the ground in a remote part of Utah at the end of November.

It disappeared just days later, and two other shining metal towers later appeared in Romania and Southern California, with others turning up in other countries including Spain, Germany and Colombia.

An anonymous collective called The Most Famous Artist has taken credit for the monoliths in Utah and California.

It posted an image of the Utah monolith on Instagram, with a 45,000 US dollar (£34,000) price tag.