A NORTH Yorkshire cold store has been preserving a life-size ice effigy of supermodel Kate Moss among its pizzas, cakes and ice creams.

Reed Boardall's Boroughbridge distribution centre came to the rescue to freeze the ice maiden after being approached by the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds.

Keith Boardall, group managing director, said "Freezing the ice effigy was an unusual request. We're used to handling chilled and frozen foods, but we're happy to help, and it added an element of fun for us to be looking after a supermodel."

By a coincidence, Kate was joined by an ice sculpture of a Bond girl created for a fundraising event nearby.

British artist Marc Quinn made the mould of Kate Moss dressed in an Alexander McQueen cloak. The mould was delivered to the cold store, filled with 170 litres of water and frozen at -28C.

Staff inspected her twice a day and used an ice pick to keep a hole in the top so the water in the middle could expand as she froze.

The statue is now on display in a refrigeration unit at the Leeds institute. Entitled Beauty, it forms part of the Second Skin exhibition which runs until May 12.

Curator Stephen Feeke said: "The sculpture is being kept at just below freezing point. It is beginning to melt, making Kate's striking features barely visible before it eventually disappears.

"Marc Quinn expresses this disappearing work as a visual metaphor for the transience of fame based only on physical attraction," he explained.