A motorist was stopped in his tracks when he saw what he believes was a panther bounding across the road.

Solar panel fitter Pete Base was driving past Greetham Valley Golf Club, in Rutland, when he spotted the animal about 100 yards in front of him.

It is the first big cat sighting in Rutland for several months.

Pete, 52, who lives in Cottesmore, made the sighting at about 8am on Friday, August 20.

He said: "I was heading for the A1 and had just gone past the turn for the golf club.

"At a lay-by about 100 metres away on the right this thing leapt across the road. It was jet black with a long tail and was about the size of my Alsatian.

"It just took a few leaps across the road and was off into the woods. I've kept cats and dogs all my life and this was no domestic cat."

Pete said his wife, Steph, 53, has also seen a big cat in the area in recent years, as had his daughter, Leanne Stafford, of nearby Colsterworth, and friend John Record.

Pete contacted Rutland and Leicestershire Pantherwatch over the weekend to report his sighting.

He said: "When I saw it, it was a nice day and I was sitting high up in my van so I had a good view.

"Pantherwatch told me there have been no sightings for a while.

"I'm the fourth person I know of who has seen it at various locations."

Big cat investigator Nigel Spencer, from the county pantherwatch group, said: "Sightings have been very thin in the Rutland and Leicestershire areas lately.

"This could well be the Rutland panther, but we don't know where they go. There's woods all the way to Bourne in Lincolnshire.

"Whether people have given up reporting it because sightings are so common I don't know.

"There was another sighting at Drayton, near Medbourne, two weeks ago when one bounded across in front of a woman on a path.

"There's lots of activity to the south around Nuneaton and Coventry and nationally trigger cameras are being set up to obtain any footage."

The BBC reported on Monday how a police warning had been issued to the public following reports of big cats in Easter Ross and Sutherland, in Scotland.

A "large panther-type" cat was spotted walking near a caravan park and golf course on Saturday morning.

There was also a sighting of a "very large, muscular black cat with a square head" last week.

Police asked people not to approach the animals.

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