Great white sharks are likely already present in British waters, according to one of the country's leading shark authorities.
Numerous sightings of the apex predator have been reported around the UK over the years, though only a few have met rigorous verification criteria. Some of those were in Cornwall.
Marine biologist and television presenter Tom 'the Blowfish' Hird, who fronts All The Sharks on Netflix, believes great whites already populate UK waters, and says it is just a matter of time before photographic evidence appears.
He explained: "We've already got great white sharks in UK waters. We've got to take into consideration that they're not lingering around. We're just not going to see them swimming through our seas, they move so quickly.
"There's no physical or biological barrier (to them coming to the UK). There's so much going on, the English Channel is the busiest shipping lane in the world, there are strong tides.
"They'll migrate to areas which have a lot of seal activity, they'll often be in areas where we as humans wouldn't see them."
Fellow distinguished shark specialist Richard Peirce has examined over 100 great white shark sightings throughout the UK.
From these reports, merely 12 satisfied stringent reliability standards. However, accounting for probable duplicates, this figure reduces to just seven separate occurrences.
Four of those were in Cornwall, most recently in July 2002 at Trevose Head. Two distinct sightings involved boaters. In August 1999, two separate sightings were reported at Cambeak Head and TintagelHead just days apart, with witnesses describing a heavy-set shark swimming close to the shore. There were also older, more historic sightings at Looe and Falmouth.
Richard has not received any reports of potential great white sightings in British waters since 2016.
Expert Says Great Whites Are in UK Waters, Citing Cornwall Sightings