A Christian youth worker has recreated scenes from Holy Week using Lego to express her faith while churches are closed due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Niamh Newton, 19, would normally be working with children attending a youth ministry retreat centre in Consett, County Durham, in the build-up to Easter.

But with an enforced shutdown, she is back at the family home in Lumley and has spent hours with her family creating Bible scenes including Palm Sunday, Judas’s betrayal, Jesus’s washing of the feet, the Last Supper, the crucifixion and resurrection in Lego.

She used her brother’s collection, which includes Marvel and DC Comics mini-figures sets, improvising a Batman cape into the outfit worn by Jesus’s mother Mary.

Ms Newton used a large Duplo piece for the rock which moved from the tomb when Jesus rose, and when the crown of thorns proved impossible to make in Lego, she made one from Play-Doh.

She took pictures of the scenes she created and some have been shared on the parish Facebook page of St Cuthbert’s RC Church in Chester-le-Street.

Ms Newton said: “People’s reaction has been good and they have said that the kids like it.”

The teenager, who is going to Liverpool Hope University in September and hopes to train to be a special needs teacher, said: “I cannot express my faith at church at the moment.

“I work at a retreat and I would normally be teaching the young people about Easter in a creative way, through games and art.

“This has helped me think about Holy Week and imagine what I was like.”