JAWSOME

Fossil of giant sea monster discovered on Dorset beach

This is the colossal, 8ft jaw of a giant Jurassic sea monster... found on a British beach.

Scientists say it belongs to a 60ft pliosaur, which weighed 15 tons and terrorised the oceans 150 million years ago when dinosaurs ruled the Earth.

Its jaw was four times more powerful than a Tyrannosaurus Rex's - and could have bitten a car in half or swallowed a human in one mouthful.

Amateur fossil hunter Kevan Sheehan, 62, found 25 bones from the huge beast's skull on Britain's Jurassic Coast near Charmouth in Dorset. The biggest piece weighed 130lbs.

Kevan found the first fossil after a landslide and returned to the same stretch of shore almost every day for five years to search for more. He unearthed them piece by piece when they became exposed by coastal erosion. Kevan said yesterday: "In 40 years of collecting I have often been green with envy at some of the finds other people have made.

"But now, when someone shows me a find, I can say, 'That's not a fossil - this pliosaur, now that's a fossil.'" Experts believe the rest of the beast is still entombed in cliffs - and may not be revealed for decades.

With razor-sharp teeth, it was capable of devouring any creatures - including the dolphin-like ichthyosaurs - that shared the then-tropical shallow seas which are now Dorset.

Experts believe the beast is bigger than the remains of the record-breaking 50ft Jurassic-era leviathan found in 2006 close to the Arctic island of Svalbard.

Dr Richard Forrest said: "This is just jaw dropping. This was the top-level predator of its day and its jaw could rip a car in half. It could have taken a human in one gulp.

"A t. Rex would have been breakfast for a beast like this."

HOW A PLIOSAUR MATCHES UP

Pliosaur would have been around 60ft long

It would have weighed 15 tons

An 8ft jaw

Four times more powerful than a Tyrannosaurus Rex

Could have bitten a car in half or swallowed a human whole