Last updated at 16:20 20 December 2007

His story raced around the world – a tale of a desperate battle to fight off a shark which still managed to inflict deep bite wounds in his arm.

But now alleged shark attack "victim" Scott Wright, 34, was behind bars after police sources claimed that he was a cat burglar who had cut his arm breaking into a house.

The sensational developments came after Wright, an out-of-work traveller from South Australia, appeared in court, his injured arm heavily bandaged, on housebreaking, robbery and car theft charges.

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Police sources claim that Wright's story of a frantic fight to make the shark let go of his arm as he swam at night off Sydney's famous Bondi Beach was 'pie in the sky'.

Earlier this week Wright appeared in newspapers and on television around the world, telling an amazing story of his battle for life.

"The shark attacked me, grabbed hold of my arm and wouldn't let go," Wright said as he was being treated in hospital for the deep wounds in his arm.

"So I ended up punching him on the nose and trying to fight him off.

"I thought I was a goner. I thought I was going to die."

But far from receiving the deep gouges in his arm from the razor-sharp teeth of a shark, police sources claim they were sustained from jagged pieces of glass when Wright broke into a house through a window.

The break-in, say police, occurred several days before he told his story of the shark attack.

He made his claims after saying his girlfriend found him semi-conscious in a beachside cave the following morning after he managed to swim ashore from the shark attack.

Lifeguards said at the time they were surprised that a shark had managed to get past the anti-shark nets that stretch across the entire length of the beach 600 yards from the shore. It would have been the first attack in 70 years.

Shortly after his girlfriend allegedly found him in the cave, Wright was asked by a woman shopper on the Bondi seafront how he had received the severe cuts to his arm.

He told her he had been bitten by a shark – and the story spread.

He received a number of stitches at a Sydney hospital, where he maintained the alleged pretence, but by then police were investigating a number of break-ins in the Bondi district.

It was not long before Wright found himself under intense questioning by detectives, who had spoken to lifeguards and heard them express surprise that a shark attack had occurred.

It is understood that blood samples have been collected from the scene of one housebreaking.

Wright, who is said to have been responsible for further thefts even after he was released from hospital, has been remanded in custody and will next appear in court on February 18.

He did not apply for bail.