Two-metre long shark caught swimming in waters near popular tourist beach in Dorset

Fisherman Jan Davey was startled when he hauled in the shark just 300 yards off the popular Chesil Beach

A two-metre long porbeagle shark - a close relative of the deadly great white - has been caught off the Dorset coastline.

Fisherman Jan Davey was startled when he hauled in the monster shark just 300 yards off the popular Chesil Beach.

Despite the shark being almost too big for his boat, the 39-year-old took the unusual catch back to shore and crowds gathered in awe.

The shark was so big that one passerby thought it was a surfboard - until they opened its massive jaws to reveal rows of razor-sharp teeth.

Jan told the Dorset Echo: "I felt a lot of weight on the net. I thought it was something interesting but we couldn’t tell.

"I've been fishing here since I was 16. I've never seen anything like that so close to the shore."

It is illegal to fish for porbeagles but Jan said he was unaware of the species and said it was already dead when he pulled it in.

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He later returned the shark to the sea.

The Dorset Wildlife Trust said it was breeding season for porbeagles and said they were commonly found in British waters.

While they are in the same family as the great white they pose very little threat to humans, despite their fearsome size.

Some experts claim porbeagles are being driven closer to land due to a lack of food in the over-fished Atlantic.