North Essex: Look out – the beast is back (From Gazette)

North Essex: Look out – the beast is back

9:04am Wednesday 7th November 2007 in Beast of Essex By Andrea Collitt

A "beast" has been spotted roaming the Essex countryside, spurring speculation that an exotic species has survived.

An eagle-eyed man saw the animal, reportedly similar to a black panther, as he drove to work along a stretch of the A120.

Ray Chesworth, an aerial installer from Harwich, said: "I was driving along the road on my way to my first job of the day and as I looked around, I saw a black object in a field."

Mr Chesworth, 48, was driving past a turn-off at Primrose Lane, which runs parallel to Ramsey, when he saw the animal yesterday about 9.10am.

"It was a huge cat, you can tell how a cat walks, it is not like how a dog walks, it was all shoulders and swaggering. I thought that's a panther'," he said.

He said the mystery cat was just three or four feet away from a fence at the edge of the field, by the lane.

When Mr Chesworth tried to slow down to get a better look, he was tail-gated by a lorry.

"My plan was to turn into the lay-by but I didn't have time to pull in. I looked in my wing mirror and then I couldn't see anything.

"If I had the chance I would have gone over and had a look," he said.

• More in today's Gazette