Explicit IS Exhibition Branded 'Grotesque'

A crime museum has opened with a graphic exhibition of the horrific crimes of the Islamic State terror group.

The display includes many before and after images of the beheading of hostages in Syria and Iraq.

A senior MP condemned the exhibition and said it would cause anguish to victims' families.

The exhibition was installed this week in the private crime museum at the former jail at Littledean in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire.

Owner Andy Jones said: "I'm sure I will be criticised for showing such graphic images, but people have a right to see the true horror of what Islamic State is doing.

"It's especially important we don't sanitise it, because the Government and the police keep warning us that these atrocities are very likely to be committed on the streets of the UK."

The museum has a reputation for extreme exhibits and has grim displays on the Holocaust and the racist murders of the Ku Klux Klan in the US.

A flyer for the museum describes it as "the UK's most infamous and politically incorrect black museum".

Senior Labour MP Keith Vaz said: "This is grotesque and I urge the owner not to open the exhibition. It should be looked at by the authorities and the owner should should think again and save himself and the relatives of those who have been the victims of ISIS (IS) the anguish that this will cause."

There are many warning signs outside the 18th Century building which has been a jail, a court and a police station before Mr Jones bought it and opened it as a museum, charging £8 for adults and £6 for children.

One notice reads: "Be warned, if easily offended or of a sensitive nature please don't come in. No refunds available."

Another warns visitors: "Do not expect this establishment to be a pleasant one, as it is clearly not. We touch upon a great many taboo and disturbing subject matters such as graphic and explicit material."

Mr Jones said: "There are plenty of warnings and I don't expect people to bring children to see the more extreme exhibits. But this is a crime museum, so what do people expect to see in such an establishment."

As he put the final touches to the exhibition before its opening this weekend, he said a discreet TV screen would show videos of IS beheadings.