A HARD-UP couple couldn't afford wallpaper for their loo - so they plastered the walls with the Beano.

Roger Clark and wife Gaille transformed their dreary upstairs toilet into a comic masterpiece - on a budget of just £5.

Their imaginative lav is about to land them a £1,000 prize.

The Clarks bought two boxes of Beanos from a car boot sale and spent the change from their fiver on wallpaper paste.

For the next week Gaille and Roger sat on the floor, painstakingly snipping out characters from the comics.

Roger, a painter and decorator, pasted each one to the walls and then varnished over the top.

The 37-year-old, from Sunniside, Gateshead, said: "It was Gaille's idea but I was the one who did all the hard work.

"At first I wanted to use the pages of Viz, but Gaille said I couldn't because it's rude and it might have been embarrassing when my Mum came round.

"I have been a big fan of Dennis the Menace and the Beano for a long time. It's great because you don't have to take a magazine to the loo - there's always plenty to read."

Gaille, 30, said: "We have some comics left over so if we get bored with the ones on the walls we can always paste some new ones up."

Amazingly, their unique loo has just won them £1,000 after Roger's mum Brenda sent a photograph to judges of the Charmin Ultimate Loo Award.

It caught the eye of the judges who said the decor was "a tribute to individualism and imagination."

A spokesman said: "We had entries from all sorts of places like pubs and restaurants but the judges really liked the Clarks' entry,"

Gaille and Roger, who have a 16-month-old son, Ross, are being whisked to London this weekend where they will be treated to a reception at the Savoy hotel and be presented with their prize