A UK teacher in Sudan faces 40 lashes for letting her students name a teddy bear Mohammed, the British Embassy has said.

Gillian Gibbons, from Liverpool, is being held on suspicion of insulting Islam's prophet.

The 54-year-old let her class of seven-year-olds choose the name as part of a school project.

Mohammed is sacred to Islamic philosophy and the penalty for blasphemy is 40 lashes, a large fine or a jail term.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We can confirm a British national was detained by police in Sudan yesterday. We are providing consular assistance."

A spokesman for the British Embassy in Khartoum said Ms Gibbons taught at Unity High School in central Khartoum.

"The children chose the name because it is very common here. This happened in September and the parents did not have a problem with it," the spokesman said.

"We are in contact with the authorities here and they have visited the teacher and she is in a good condition."

A source close to the school said one teacher was angered by the naming of the teddy bear and complained to the headmistress.

The source, who did not want to be named, said: "The story, unconfirmed, is that one of the teachers has a grudge with the headmistress and wants to move this whole case.

"According to what I was told, she was kicked out from the principal's office and belongs to one of the established conservative families in Khartoum."

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