Steve Irwin Death Footage to Be Destroyed

The only surviving footage of a stingray killing crocodile hunter Steve Irwin is expected to be destroyed after it was returned to his wife Terri.

Australian authorities have broken with protocol by destroying all copies of the incident when Irwin met his death, fearing that the footage could leak out over the internet just as footage of Saddam Hussein's execution did.

Normally a copy would be held in government files but state coroner Michael Barnes told the Australian that copies showing a stingray goring Irwin had been destroyed and the original returned to his widow before Christmas.

The coroner's investigation into the death is almost completed and Mr Barnes will make a decision about an inquest after receiving the final police investigation.

The tapes have been held in a safe in the office of the Queensland police commissioner amid fears the footage could fetch up to $A1m on the black market and be posted on an internet pay-per-view site.

The footage shows Irwin swimming above a stingray before it flicks up its tail and plants a barb into his chest. Irwin pulls the barb out and he begins to lose consciousness.