They pay for that? Whale vomit 'like winning lottery', says man who found it on beach

A dog walker says finding whale vomit on a beach was like "winning the lottery".

Ken Wilman discovered the smelly substance while walking his pet pooch Madge in Morecambe, Lancashire, and admits he left it and returned home at first before finding out it could be worth £100,000 and quickly returning to grab it.

He said: “I didn’t actually realise what it was at first and couldn’t understand why Madge was so interested in it.

“It smelled horrible. I left it, came back home and looked it up on the internet. When I saw how much it could be worth, I went back and grabbed it. It is like walking on the beach and finding a bag of £50,000 in cash."

Ken - who is unemployed after hurting his back in a motorcycle accident - has already received a £43,000 offer for the whale vomit from a French dealer, but he is holding out for more money.

Whale vomit is used in incense, medicines and in perfumes.