A GREAT white shark more than 14ft long has been battered to death by holidaymakers in knee-deep water off a beach near Cape Town. Hair from the shark's stomach is being analysed to see if it was the creature that, ten days ago, killed a scuba diver about 30 miles away.

Holidaymakers on the beach at Macassar in False Bay, east of Cape Town, some armed with steel rods and police-style batons, waded into the shallows and attacked the shark, which was ill or injured. One was bitten on the leg by the dying shark, but was not seriously hurt.