West Sussex angler left needing stitches after shark bite offshore from Littlehampton

The Sun has reported how Des Butler was fishing with a friend on his boat just a few miles off the coast from Littlehampton this weekend – when the trip was cut short by a painful encounter with a 6ft houndshark.

After Des landed the razor-toothed fish and attempted to unhook it, the shark managed to sink its teeth into the 51-year-old’s left calf.

Des and his friend, Alan Baldwin, managed to wrestle the dangerous animal overboard before Alan got a first aid kit and bandaged his friend’s wound.

Despite a speedy retreat to port in order to visit hospital and have stitches in his leg, Des says the bloody incident has not put him off sea fishing.

He told The Sun: ‘I shall be back out there, maybe with a bigger boat as they said in Jaws.’

But the fibre optics engineer, from Copthorne, admitted that the shark bite was the most painful experience of his life.

He added: ‘It was like being stabbed by lots of little daggers at the same time.’

Des was bitten by a houndshark known as a tope, which are common around Britain but have not previously been known to attack humans.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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