THE great white shark is designed to kill with hundreds of razor sharp serrated teeth and an appetite to match its formidable hunting tools'.

In the last century more than 150 cases of attacks on humans have been recorded, many involving swimmers or surfers just metres from the shoreline.

They are found in every ocean on the planet where the water is temperate enough, and indeed thrive in Britain's most popular tourist destination - the Mediterranean.

But could climate change mean Great Britain's southern seas are now looking increasingly attractive to great whites?

Bookies Totesport certainly thinks so after cutting the odds of one turning up on the UK's south coast during the next 12 months to just 25-1.

Bets are being taken as part of a series of global warming-related stakes which also include next year being the hottest on record (4-1) and no white Christmas in London until 2011 (7-4).

A spokesman for the company, which will donate half its takings on these bets to Friends of the Earth, said it had consulted experts on the great white odds and felt the chances of it happening were not that far-fetched.

Spokesman Paul Petrie added: "As the sea around the UK is getting warmer many of the great white's prey have been moving into UK waters and it would be natural for the shark to follow."

He continued: "We've taken about £2,000 on this already, which for a special bet is pretty good.

"Either people think there's quite a lot of potential in this or they are planning on heading off to South Africa and bringing one back."

Arguably, though, if the bet does come true it would not be the first time one of these giant predators has graced British shores.

According to an unconfirmed report in 2003, a 15-year-old amateur naturalist on holiday on Devon's west coast spotted a large unidentified shark feeding on a shoal of fish just 20-metres from the shore.

A report into the sighting by the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth concluded the description of the animal closely matched that of a great white, but it could not positively confirm it as one.

Not everyone is as convinced as Totesport though.

Dr Ken Collins, a marine scientist at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, who also runs the UK shark-tagging programme, says it is possible but not probable that a great white will appear.

He said: "Will a Great White turn up alive in UK waters? Well, it's unlikely but certainly not impossible. I'd have probably given longer odds, perhaps 100-1."

To find out more about this fearsome man-eater see pages 8&9 of today's Daily Echo.