Bjarne Sjöstrand, 52, spotted a long, thin object in the water on Google Earth, after he logged on to his computer 800 miles away.

Mr Sjöstrand, who has never visited Scotland, won the best Loch Ness Monster sighting of 2014, in an annual competition run by bookmaker William Hill.

The systems administrator was at home in Stockholm when he spotted a long thin object in the water on a Google Earth image taken above Horse Shoe Scree on the loch's southern side.

 Mr Sjöstrand said: 'I am very interested in anything regarding Nessie and the history of Loch Ness.

'The reason I found this image on Google Earth was that I was sitting one night at home reading about Nessie and Loch Ness on the internet and thought I would check to see if I could see something from above - and that proved to turn out well.

'I have never been to Scotland but my hopes are that one day I will visit Loch Ness.'

The picture is the latest in a series of possible Loch Ness Monster pictures. In November MailOnline reported that grainy footage had emerged showing a long and thin shape swaying in the water - one that bears a striking resemblance to Nessie’s fabled slender neck.

The video shows the object waving in the choppy water, around 500ft from the loch’s shore.

It was captured by Richard Collis – who counts himself amongst the most ardent Nessie cynics after years of fishing on the waters without a sighting.

But the tree planter was so taken aback by the mysterious shape he noticed while driving along the edge of the loch that he filmed it on his iPhone, and believes he might have stumbled upon the real deal. 

'As I was watching, I was thinking what the hell is that?’ said Mr Collis, 58, who noticed the shape while travelling around a mile from Fort Augustus at the south-west end of Loch Ness.

He added: ‘I don’t really believe in anything like that until I see it.' 

Now, Mr Sjöstrand's picture has been chosen from five contenders in the annual contest run by bookmaker William Hill in conjunction with The Inverness Courier.

It topped an online poll on the Courier website, which attracted a total of 92,000 votes, and was confirmed by judges to be the year's most intriguing image.

'I'm very happy to have won the prize,' said Mr Sjöstrand.

(dailymail.co.uk)