AN expert from the team which helped find body of Richard III has written of her disappointment with the new Richard III Visitor Centre in Leicester.

Annette Carson said she and the "Looking for Richard Project" team was "saddened and profoundly disappointed by the exhibition" at the Richard III Visitor Centre which opened at the weekend.

A projected image of the of the king lying in his grave is "ghoulish" and a display of the king's armour which closely resembles a Stormtrooper from Star Wars is "grotesque", she said.

Ms Carson, author of Richard III: The Maligned King, wrote in an online article: "Other grotesque exhibits include the white-painted depiction of the king’s armour resembling a Storm Trooper from Star Wars, despite representatives of the council and university having attended the presentation by Dr Tobias Capwell in March 2013 where he described his armour and illustrated its actual probable appearance.

"As an example of the organisers’ taste in these matters, it was only by strenuous insistence that we removed the planned visual which was to greet visitors: the central throne was to be drenched in a sickening pool of blood which dripped down to form words written in blood on the floor below."

She said about the imagery of the dead body: "We know this will be devastating not only to those who had trusted that the discovery of Richard’s remains would be conducted with dignity, but indeed to all civilised visitors who believe in the concept of respect for the dead."

Ms Carson said the exhibition sidelines the efforts of the team which found the remains "despite our members’ years of research and ground-breaking discoveries" and misses out crucial details about original commissioning, funding and work

She also said it seems Leicester "will go to any lengths to imply spurious historic links with Richard III", even failing to attribute the 1485 minute from the York City records, well known to all Ricardians as that city’s statement of regret at his death.

The £4 million attraction opened on Saturday and allows visitors to see below their feet to the spot where the king was found by archaeologists in 2012. Although the actual bones are not on display there is a 3D printout of the skeleton.