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Comedian John Cleese has sparked outrage after tweeting a 'joke' about the death of Oscar Pistorius' model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

The Fawlty Towers star had not tweeted for a month but broke his silence to write: "Oscar’s defence will be that he was absolutely legless at the time."

His post immediately came under attack from people.

@rayascott said: "Again, comedians on Twitter: so NOT funny."

@tinpanscally tweeted: "Wow, I didn’t expect the first Pistorius joke on my timeline to come from John Cleese."

@GaryLemke wrote: "You can't be serious??! Ffs. “@JohnCleese: Oscar’s defence will be that he was absolutely legless at the time.”

?@TheresaNovak said: "@JohnCleese That is not funny ... Not imaginative or outlandish or marvelously irreverent. It's just sad and stupid."

?@Jacobrill added: "Two of my heroes, @Trevornoah and @JohnCleese went there. Bad form. Very disappointed."

???@LevParikian tweetd: "John Cleese broke a twitter silence to make a Pistorius joke. My 11-year-old self, the one who fell in love with Fawlty Towers, is crying."

Mirror Online has contacted Cleese's publicist and is waiting for a comment.

South African Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius was charged with murder after Reeva was found shot dead at his home .

Model Reeva , 30, was found with gunshot wounds to the head and arm at the property in Pretoria, South Africa, in the early hours of this morning.

Local media reports suggested the death may have been a Valentine's Day surprise gone tragically wrong amid speculation 26-year-old Pistorius mistook his girlfriend for an intruder and opened fire.

However, police in South Africa have said they are "very surprised" by the burglar speculation, telling reporters: "These allegations did not come from us."

The celebrity couple, considered to be the Posh and Becks of South Africa , began dating in November before tragedy struck today.