A 30 POUND shark was caught in a competition launched to raise money for a Basingstoke hospice.

Tony Smith and his nephew Craig Smith held their first charity shark fishing event off the Isle of Wight on July 13 and 14 to generate funds for St Michael’s Hospice.

The pair part own a boat called 'Dream On' together, and decided to use it to help boost funds for the hospice raised by the Champion Group, where Tony is a contracts manager.

He said: “Fishing champions do a lot for charity so I wanted to do something too. Any money made would go towards the Champion Group total for the year.”

The building works business, in Daneshill, chose St Michael’s Hospice as its charity of the year, and has held a number of events to raise funds including a golf day in April.

Tony said the shark fishing event was a huge success, with four boats going out to fish for shark, and the plan is to hold it annually.

He added: “The weather was fantastic. We made £1,000 thanks to all our sponsors and Champions.

“The charity gave us t-shirts for all skippers which we had our boat names printed on.”

The winning shark was a 30lb Tope which was caught by Lewis Troddy.