A FOUR-YEAROLD boy who is “dinosaur daft” could not believe his luck when his father found the remains of what is believed to be a real Jurassic beast at the local beach.

Karl French found what seems to be fossilised parts of a huge dinasaur’s backbone.

There are more parts of the giant reptile lying in the sandstone at Hummersea beach at Loftus , Cleveland, but Mr French could not carry all of them.

His son, Connor, already has a collection of dinosaur toys, but now has a real-life specimen to add to his collection. He loves watching Walking with Dinosaurs videos and has lots of dinosaur figures.

Zoe Wilson of the nearby Middlesbrough Museum, who is experienced in dinosaur fossils, believes Mr French has indeed found some sort of dinosaur.

Ms Wilson said: “Karl’s found what looks like a column of dinosaur vertebrae.

“That area has Jurassic sandstone and there have been plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs found nearby at Whitby, examples of which are in the museum there.”

Several dinosaur footprints have also been found on the region’s coast, but finds of dinosaur bones are rare.

Ms Wilson added: “I’m not expert to say exactly what it is,” she said. “That would require someone seeing the fossils and examining them.

“But he’s definitely found something very interesting.”

Mr French, 28, was walking on Hummersea beach recently with Connor, his cousin Stuart Holmes and others when he did a double-take. He said: “The piece I’ve got is about 2ft long in jointed vertebrae. When I first saw it, I was sure it was a dinosaur.

“The rock it’s made of is sandstone-like and the vertebrae themselves are about four inches deep by three and a half inches across. It’s the find of a lifetime.”

Mr French said there is a lot more of the fossil and he knows where it is. Now he wants experts at London’s Natural History Museum to examine photographs and tell him what it is.