A shark discovered on a Sheppey beach could have been stabbed through the head according to a sea life expert.

It was found on the beach near Minster Cliffs by Paula Galvin, of Halfway, while she was walking her dog.

She took the photos on her mobile phone and later told her daughter Carolin Galvin, 42, about what she saw.

Amateur photographer Carolin then went to the spot with her camera to take pictures of the fish, which her mother estimated was over three feet long.

When she got there, it had disappeared.

The Eastchurch snapper said: “I personally think someone has taken it for bait because the tide was right out.

“There was no way it could have gone back out to the sea.”

Paul Hale, curator at Sea Life London Aquarium, said: “This is a type of native shark or dogfish called a smoothhound.

“It looks like it has been gaffed or stabbed through the head and has dried on the beach for a day or so,” he added.