A STREAKER who tried to disrupt the Turner Prize announcement was arrested by North-East police on suspicion of disorderly conduct, a force spokesman said today.

As photographer Mario Testino was about to call out Martin Boyce's name live on television, a man pulled off his clothes, jumped over photographers and launched himself on to the stage dressed in a pink tutu.

His bare belly was scrawled with the words study this in black.

He was swiftly dragged away by security guards and the would-be streak barely registered on Channel 4's coverage of the prize.

Officers were called to the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, and arrested a 46-year-old from Liverpool on suspicion of disorderly conduct.

A Northumbria Police spokesman said the man has since been released on police bail.

Boyce, 44, from Hamilton, Lanarkshire, took the £25,000 top prize after leading the betting for the prestigious art event.

Inspired by 1920s modernist concrete trees, the sculptor created an installation with a feeling of an indoor park, complete with paper leaves.