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The model found was used in 1969's 'The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes'. Photo: AF archive/Alamy Stock Photo

Robot finds Loch Ness Monster (prop)

Project leader says Nessie model from Sherlock flick is too heavy to surface.

An underwater sweep of Loch Ness in Scotland has revealed the long lost monster ... model built for a Sherlock Holmes movie filmed almost 50 years ago.

The prop created for 'The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes', sank to the bottom of the loch once filming had finished.

Now, images captured by an underwater robot on the hunt for any sign of the legendary monster have revealed the outline of a Nessie shaped creature.

Adrian Shine is the leader of the Loch Ness & Morar Project which in conjunction with VisitScotland is plunging the depths for the mythical beast.

He says his team had been looking for a trench called Nessie's lair, a topographical feature which turned out not to exist.

"However in transit to that location, the robot found an outline with a long neck and a large body about 10 meters long.

"And it indeed proved to be the Loch Ness monster, but it is a Loch Ness monster constructed for a film in 1969," according to Shine.

Shine said at a weight of 4 tonnes, the model is too heavy to drag to the surface but he is convinced by its origin.

"The imagery is totally convincing, the measurements are precise," he said.

The drone robot which found the prop is operated by Norwegian company Kongsberg Maritime. The firm has been testing on Loch Ness for 35 years.

Kongsberg's current device is an autonomous torpedo called Munin which, equipped with sonar imaging, has already carried out several sweeps of the loch.

Among other material detected include a Wellington bomber from World War Two and the wreck of a craft which crashed during a fatal water speed record attempt in 1952.

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