A record-breaking shark netted by fishermen two miles off the Cornish coast has been sold.

The 520-pound thresher shark was bought by a wholesaler in Southampton and will end up as 1,000 shark steaks in an Oxford fishmongers.

Looe Fish Market did not have a crane large enough to lift the creature so a fork lift truck was used instead.

The two-man crew of the Emma May caught the 14-foot thresher shark when they were fishing for pollack off Looe.

British record

Emma May skipper Chris Dominic said: "There were only two of us and it was phenomenal to see it come up."

He said the shark was already dead in the nets.

"He was well gone," he said.

"If we had let him go he'd have just sunk to the bottom and rotted away."

The shark, which broke the British record, was landed at east Looe harbour on Monday afternoon.

Linda Reynolds, of the Shark Angling Club of Great Britain, said the thresher shark was tied to the side of the Emma May and brought to shore.

It was later weighed on the club's official scales.

"It is a big thresher shark.

"The British record is 323 pounds for a shark caught by rod and line," she said.