THE Loch Ness researcher who revealed that the most famous photograph

of the monster was a hoax said yesterday that his motive was to

eliminate false evidence and confirm his belief that a strange beast did

inhabit the loch.

Mr Alastair Boyd, a retired art teacher who has been researching Loch

Ness for 15 years, said he hoped the revelation that the world-famous

photograph was a hoax one of the greatest hoaxes of the twentieth

century would convince people that much photographic evidence was bogus

and that more credence should be given to reported sightings.

The photograph, known as the Surgeon's Picture, had for 60 years been

attributed to Colonel Robert Wilson, a Harley Street gynaecologist who

claimed to have seen the monster on April 19, 1934.

However, Mr Boyd and another researcher claim they were told by the

late stepson of film maker Marmaduke Wetherell that the Nessie in the

photograph is actually a toy submarine fitted with a classic sea serpent

head and neck made from plastic wood.

Speaking from his home in Southend, Essex, Mr Boyd, who has done 4500

hours of surveillance on the loch, emphasised yesterday that he was not

conducting a ''Nessie-bashing exercise''.

He said: ''This is a simple matter of establishing the truth. I am

interested in getting to the bottom of what is in the loch and if that

means removing some of the red herrings then that has to be done.

''Some people might think we are trying to debunk the myth. That is

not so. All we are doing is pointing out that what was regarded as

suspect evidence has been shown to be completely false,'' he said.

Meanwhile, fears that the revelation could damage the Highland tourist

industry were dismissed by Mr Ronnie Bremner, of the Loch Ness Monster

Exhibition at Drumnadrochit.

He said: ''The fact that the Surgeon's Picture has been proved to be a

fake will not damage the exhibition's popularity. On the contrary, I

think it will strengthen it.''