A POLICE officer claimed to have discovered live sharks in a swimming pool in the front room of a house - but they were actually goldfish.

Inspector Darren Taylor was mistaken when he claimed that officers found an eight-foot pool containing sharks circling an artificial Christmas tree in a living room earlier this month.

The officer made the claims on social media after his team visited a property in Haywards Heath - prompting Sussex Police to launch a review into what happened.

In a tweet, which has since been deleted, Insp Taylor said: "In the swimming pool (apart from water) were small sharks swimming around and an artificial Christmas tree in the middle.

"I kid you not.”

Sussex Police have now revealed that the incident involved goldfish - rather than sharks - in a children's paddling pool.

The force said that the landlords of the property were contacted over concerns about the volume of water inside, but there were no concerns over the welfare of the fish.

“Following recent media coverage of a tweet by a Sussex Police officer relating to an incident at a private address in Mid-Sussex recently, we have now reviewed the incident in more detail,” a statement said.

“Several types of goldfish/fish commonly kept as pets were found in a children’s paddling pool fitted with pumps and filters, not a swimming pool, and none were sharks.

“The property landlords were contacted over concerns about the volume of water in the property, but there were no concerns over the welfare of the fish.”

Police also clarified that the Mid Sussex neighbourhood policing team had been called to a "neighbour dispute," rather than a disturbance as originally claimed.