Reports of a brown bear roaming through a Suffolk forest were part of an elaborate hoax dreamed up by a team of actors to promote a play, it has emerged.

Ramblers and dog walkers were urged to take care after bear sightings were reported around Rendlesham Forest near Woodbridge, Ipswich.

But the mystery of the alleged sightings was finally solved as bare-faced theatre bosses admitted they had dreamed the whole thing up.

The Red Rose Chain Theatre Company, who were staging an outdoor summer production of Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale, admitted they were behind the stunt.

The script contains a famous stage direction ' 'Exit, pursued by a bear' and the actors chose to use the phrase as the inspiration for its promotional campaign.

Actor and designer Jimmy Grimes said they had wanted to make one of the Bard's lesser-known plays more appealing to families and children.

Mr Grimes created two youtube clips and email accounts from witnesses who claimed to have seen the bear.

He created the fake YouTube video by running through the woods with his mobile phone and added real life footage of a bear taken from the internet and altered with Photoshop.

He also posted a second clip on YouTube showing still pictures of a bear which he had pasted onto images of a forest.