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Former Maidstone footballer Chris Smalling has said sorry after appearing as an apparent suicide bomber at a fancy dress party.
The Manchester United and England player, an ex-Chatham Grammar School for Boys pupil, has been pictured wearing an Army-style vest, with mock circuit board and wires attached.
A spokesman for the 24-year-old defender has said he accepts it was insensitive and apologises.
Smalling wore the costume at the party staged by him and his girlfriend at home with their friends.
He is said to have wanted to make a pun on the popular Jagerbomb drink by strapping bottles of Jagermeister and Red Bull to his body.
His management team said no harm was intended when he wore the outfit, pictured on the front of a national newspaper today.
A Wasserman Media Group spokesman said: "Chris and his girlfriend hosted a fancy dress party to celebrate Christmas and their belated birthdays with close friends in the assumed privacy of his own home.
"He dressed in a costume consisting of empty bottles of Jagermeister and cans of Red Bull strapped to his chest in an attempted comedy play on the popular Jagerbomb drink.
"Although he fully accepts in hindsight it was an ill-thought out and insensitive decision, absolutely no harm was intended whatsoever and he apologises for any offence caused."
