GRAPHIC CONTENT: Northampton actor features in hard-hitting World Vegan Day performance by PETA

The group of four behind the shocking staged demonstration by PETA in London to mark World Vegan Day

Twenty-four-year-old Drew Sheridan-Wheeler was "hung upside and butchered" in a dramatic, staged performance that visibly shocked passers-by.

A spokesman for PETA said the aim was "to remind people what every shrink-wrapped slab of meat at the grocer's really is: the dismembered corpse of an animal who wanted to live".

He said: "The display pointed out that we can spare sensitive, intelligent animals a life of pain and misery by simply switching to healthy and humane vegan meals," he said.

The 24-year-old actor and film-maker from Northampton, Drew Sheridan-Wheeler, featured in the provocative display in London

"Meat is a product of a bloody and violent industry with no respect for living beings who value their lives and experience the same pain and terror that humans would if they were killed for a steak", says PETA director Elisa Allen. "This World Vegan Day, PETA is calling on caring people everywhere to stand up for what's right and switch to delicious and cruelty-free vegan meals."