Gallery urged not to show portrait of dead addict

• Steven Morris and Rosie Cowan
• The Guardian,
• Tuesday March 16 2004
• Article history

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This article appeared in the Guardian on Tuesday March 16 2004 . It was last updated at 17:38 on April 07 2004.

Police chiefs yesterday called on an art gallery to cancel plans to hang a disturbing portrait of Rachel Whitear, the heroin addict whose death is being reinvestigated.

The painting by Stella Vine, which shows the 21-year-old with blood pouring from her mouth, is due to be displayed at the Saatchi Gallery from next Wednesday, 24 hours after Ms Whitear's body is exhumed.

But Detective Chief Superintendent Paul Howlett, the senior investigating officer, said: "I'm attempting to enter into negotiations with the gallery regarding this particular piece. I hope that we can broker some agreement regarding the unfortunate timing."

Ms Whitear's parents, Mick and Pauline Holcroft, who allowed photographs of her body to be used in an anti-drugs campaign, were said to be devastated by news of the painting. Titled Rachel, it was taken from a school photograph the artist found on the internet. She said: "Rachel's family will believe that I gratuitously exploited her image. I'm sad if that's how they feel .... It comes from love and from passion and I'm not going to stop making art."

The painting, purchased by Charles Saatchi, is to form part of the exhibition New Blood. The body of the Bath University student is to be exhumed from a Herefordshire graveyard next Tuesday. She was found dead in her flat in Exmouth, Devon, four years ago.