Peter Crouch is using a life-size cardboard cut out of himself to guard his mansion.

The 6ft 7in former footballer has enlisted the help of the model, which is nicknamed Two-Meter Peter, to put off potential thieves at his plush pad after he placed it in his window and then wondered who was inside his house when he glanced back at the £4.5 million property.

Peter - who has been targeted by thieves twice in the past - told The Sun newspaper: ''I've got mine in the top bedroom. We threw it in there when it first came.

''And I walked down to the bottom of the garden, turned around and thought, 'Who's that in my bedroom? What's going on here?'

''But now I've left it in there because security wise, if anyone comes in it is perfect.''

Peter took the cut out from the set of his new TV show 'Save Our Summer', where a number of the two-metre models were used to help ensure the crew, presenters and stars all socially distanced.

On the show, Peter will be seen taking part in a 13,000ft skydive, and he was so scared jumping out of a plane he felt ''close to death''.

He told The Sun Online: ''I felt close to death. I felt confident the whole way through and as soon as we got to jumping out I lost it.

''My feet were like blocks of ice which took the enjoyment out of it.

''I've been close to death on a few occasions [on the show], and it's not been fun, it's been excruciating at times!''

This comes after Peter's wife Abbey Clancy admitted the couple ''hated each other'' and ''didn't have sex'' while she was pregnant with their fourth child, Jack - who celebrates his first birthday today (03.06.20) - but the pair haven't had a single dispute during lockdown.

She recently said: ''In seven weeks we haven't had one argument. When I got pregnant with Jack we hated each other - we didn't even have sex.''