Nike ordered to pay £48,000 to sculptor after dressing Winston Churchill statue in basketball shirt

It is one of only a handful of statues in Paris of people who are not French

France's basket national team players pose next to the statue of Winston Churchill in 2011 (Getty Images)

Nike has been ordered to pay £48,000 in damages to a sculptor after the sportswear giant dressed his statue of Winston Churchill in a basketball shirt.

Jean Cardot sued Nike and events company Ubi Bene over the stunt in 2011, which saw the 10ft bronze statue wearing the shirt of the French national team’s star player Tony Parker, The Daily Telegraph reported.

The sculpture, which cost £250,000, was funded by donations from the public in France and is one of only a handful of statues in Paris of people who are not French. It is on Avenue Winston Churchil near the Champs Elysees.

A recent court ruling said that the statue, which was unveiled by Queen Elizabeth in 1998, had been defiled because it had been used in a commercial way, the Telegraph said.

It ordered the two companies to pay Mr Cardot a total of €135,000 in compensation or about £48,000 each.