Big cat sightings are coming in from across west Wiltshire as fears grow that a panther-type animal could be on the loose.

Chauffer Mark Jenner, 34, of Lindon Place, Trowbridge, spotted what he believes was a big cat lurking by the side of a road at Sally in the Woods, between Bradford on Avon and Bath.

He said: “I could see these large reflective eyes and thick black coat, it was much larger than a cat.

“Its front legs met its back ones and within a few bounds it had crossed the road and disappeared into the trees.

“In my eyes it looked like a black panther - certainly nothing like a large domestic cat.”

Den Owen, 39, from Downhayes Road in Trowbridge, believes she saw the beast twice in the space of a week last summer, while driving along Bratton Road on the way to Trowbridge.

“It ran across the road like only a cat could. It had its back down and its tail out flat,” she said.

“It was around five and a half foot long and the height of a dog.”

Molly Hopkins, 78, from Frome Road in Trowbridge has also been left shaken after seeing a black cat the “size of a labrador” in her garden on the late May Bank Holiday Monday.

“I’m frightened to go into the garden now in case it comes back.” she said.