Landlocked Shropshire playing a part in bid to find great white shark in British waters

The unusual quest to find one of nature's most terrifying predators is being led by TV personality Ben Fogle, and will be the subject of an ITV documentary expected to air in the autumn.

In a bid to discover if sharks really do live in British coastal waters the team will be using the carcass of a whale to attract its interest.

He said: "This is certainly an exciting project – possibly unprecedented in British waters – however the likelihood of encountering a white shark is incredibly low."

Richard Peirce, former chairman of the Shark Trust, has looked into numerous shark sightings around the British Isles.

He said: "While a handful of sightings remain credible, there is currently no documented proof that white sharks are present in British waters.

"Nevertheless a decomposing whale may prove impossible to ignore for a number of other magnificent oceanic sharks found in British waters."

The carcass is currently being stored in an unknown location in Shropshire. It is in a unnamed lock-up, where it is being allowed to decompose to allow it to give off as much odour as possible.

In a project shrouded in secrecy, the rotten corpse will be dragged behind a boat in the Irish sea while film crews attempt to capture images of any hungry sharks which make an appearance. The whale will be dropped in an area 35 miles off the coast called 'The Celtic Deep'.

Marine experts believe it is possible that sharks could live off the British coast but as yet there has been no proof of their presence.

Fogle said: "It's a top secret mission so I can't talk too much about it but it could be the most exciting and ambitious thing I've ever done. We might change what we know about the British Atlantic waters and what's in them."

In an effort to attract the sharks, experts will endeavour to keep the corpse floating at the surface, before lowering it 100 feet below the waves.