IS this the face of Jesus Christ?

Dales decorator Sam Dalby made the chance discovery of this image on a living room wall while working on a house in North Yorkshire.

The uncanny Christian portrait turned up behind a stereo unit at a house in Eldroth, near Austwick.

Sam, of Settle, had spent the morning plastering and sanding the room, and had not noticed the bearded face until he sat down to eat his sandwiches.

The 37-year-old said: “I hadn’t seen the face earlier on when I was working close up to it.

“It was only when I sat down that it turned up – I was sitting face-to-face with Jesus. I was more than a bit surprised; it’s not every day that you find your Lord and saviour watching you eat your lunch.

“It’s pretty amusing and I was happy that we’ve been paid a righteous visit. I reckon it must be a good omen for the job we have done at the house.”

Sam began refurbishing the Yorkshire home before Christmas.

He said that although he had been moved by the image it had not stopped him finishing his decorating duties and coating Jesus with two coats of off-white emulsion.

“The paint is a similar colour to a shroud,” he said, “so it felt appropriate."

The Citizen has been out on the street to ask local people what they thought of Sam’s ‘miracle’ sighting – and perhaps not surprisingly, got a sceptical reaction.

your view

“I think the bloke did well to spot it. I probably wouldn’t have noticed and would have just painted over it.”

Adam Ollerton, 41,Morecambe.

“It looks more like John Lennon in the late 1960s than Jesus. That’s what I see when I look at this picture.”

Kat Wilson, 34, Kendal.

“It’s a great tale isn’t it, but you could probably see an image of Jesus in pretty much anything if you looked hard enough.”

Daniel Hart, 37, Lancaster.

“It definitely does look like the classic image of Jesus but I don’t think it means anything.”

Heather Gaskin, 30, Dalton-in-Furness.