BB FANS

They love to grieve in Liverpool, say the cynics. The city does, after all, have a reputation for lining its pavements with bouquets at the first sign of calamity.

So when a passer-by found what looked like a human foetus in an alleyway they assumed the worst.

Within hours one kindly soul had laid a bunch of flowers at the scene, expressing her sorrow. Another did likewise, imploring the mother she suspected of aborting her child to come forward.

After five days the alley behind Oakfield Road, Anfield, had become a sprawling shrine filled with flowers, teddy bears and cards.

Yesterday Merseyside police took the unusual step of announcing that their investigation was over and that the foetus in question had been that of. . . a chicken.

Their move came after a local newspaper carried reports describing the extent of local mourning.

One card read: "RIP little baby. Safe in the arms of Jesus. From someone who is a loving mother xxxx."

Another well-wisher wrote: "To the mum of this little baby. I pray the Lord will keep you safe and well and you will come forward.''

A spokesman for Merseyside police confirmed that officers had received reports of a suspicious sudden death after the foetus was found behind the Anfield Tackle Shop last Wednesday. "It seems a member of the public saw the remains of a foetus, which possibly resembled a human foetus, and called us. We cordoned off the area to investigate, as we would with any possible suspicious death, but it became apparent it was not a human foetus.

Boris Johnson, the former shadow arts minister, may be among those able to raise a smile.

A year ago he was forced to make an apology after the magazine he edits, The Spectator, claimed that Liverpudlians typified "the mawkish sentimentality of a society hooked on grief".

But one local resident explained the outbreak of unfounded grief. "All kinds of stories were going round Anfield about a dismembered baby, and that's why the flowers are being laid," he said.

Another resident defended the outpouring of sorrow. "At least it shows we care," she said