Visitors to the UK's Metropolitan Police recruitment website saw a cuddly monster on the weekend, after a hacker broke into the site.

The cheeky hackers broke into London's Metropolitan Police recruitment website, and posted a picture of a cuddly toy on its front page. Beneath the picture of the green stripy animal they added taunting comments.

The message posted by "Officer Brobee" referred to the Scotland Yard's SO15 counter-terrorism unit. It said: "OH HA! GUYS do joo wanna bes a policeman lulz. I see that teh so15 anti-terrorism anti-lulz police are hiring more incompetent nervy edgy sociopaths to make London's streets just that little bit safer!"

A spokesman for the Met said they were aware of the hack. "We are aware of an unauthorized image and text having been placed on the Met Careers internet site," a statement issued by the force said. "The Met Careers site is managed by an external company who are responsible for its upkeep. We will discuss this with the service provider at the earliest possible time."

The embarrassing message and cuddly monster were later removed.