Get the stories that matter to you sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

A CONTROVERSIAL statue of William Wallace is set to be removed - and given to tycoon Donald Trump.

The artwork at the Wallace Monument is often ridiculed because it looks more like actor Mel Gibson in Braveheart than Wallace himself.

After more than 10 years, the 13ft high statue is to be removed from the foot of the monument in Stirling so a tourist centre can be built.

Sculptor Tom Church has offered it to the Trump Organisation for their proposed £1billion golf resort on the Menie estate, near Aberdeen.

Tom said: "It would make an ideal centrepiece at the big hotel Trump is going to be building.

"It has got the history, the presence and the legend and would be a real show-stopper."

The statue caused furore when it was unveiled in 1997 because of its resemblance to Gibson's portrayal of Wallace in the 1995 film Braveheart.

It even has "Braveheart" emblazoned on the shield.

Wallace expert Dr James Boland welcomed the proposal to get rid of the statue.

He said: "If Trump wants the statue, he can have it. It serves no real purpose at the National Wallace Monument as it seems to commemorate Mel Gibson and his atrocious film more than Wallace."

But Tony Burns, who works at the monument, said the statue would be missed. He said: "Foreign tourists love it."