COUPLE WHO ARE NEVER STUCK FOR GIFT IDEAS

From the archive, first published Friday 31st Dec 1999.

UNUSUAL gifts hold no surprises for Derek Vinton and his fiance Isabella after they exchanged a stuffed cow and a boar's head for Christmas.

The bizarre gifts come just weeks after Derek surprised his partner by giving her an entire human skeleton as an engagement present.

Isabella was determined to get her own back and thought she had found the perfect riposte by giving him a stuffed cockerel tied by a single red ribbon and a boar's head complete with tusks.

But Derek, of Cherry Croft Farm, Church Road, Herstmonceux, had outdone her again, having chanced upon the oddest gift of all in a French flea market - a stuffed calf.

Magnificent

Beef farmer Derek, 50, said: "We're both very pleased with our presents. We've put the skeleton at the head of the dining table and the calf sits by the fire with our three dogs."

The couple hit the headlines after Isabella had second thoughts about her skeleton gift and tried to sell the 100-year-old medical specimen at her stall at the Lewes Antique Centre.

The unusual item attracted the attention of the police until officers decided no law had been broken.

Isabella, 48, decided to keep the celebrity skeleton after all and nicknamed him Sebastian.

There was another surprise for Derek when a mystery package arrived for him on Wednesday containing the boar's head - a follow-up present from Isabella.

He said: "It really is quite a gruesome-looking thing. It's absolutely magnificent."

Isabella was also pleased with her gift. She said: "I think the calf's rather beautiful and it means I don't have to go patting the ones in the field anymore. We've put him next to the fire and have decided to call him Rupert."

The couple already have a large collection of stuffed birds and animals and have always been fond of curios.