COULD there be a panther lurking in the Five Valleys? Recent sightings of large cats in the area have raised speculation among residents.

Retired policeman Roy Harvey, 73, from Amberley, believes he spotted what looked like a black panther in his garden early one morning.

He said: "You occasionally see these reports in the paper about people spotting large cats and I had always read them with a degree of cynicism, until I saw a large cat - the size of a big fox - in our garden.

"I watched it for about two minutes until it disappeared. It was a lot bigger than your average domestic cat with dark brown to black fur."

There have been other rumoured sightings of large cats around the Five Valleys in Rodborough, Woodchester, Minchinhampton, Nailsworth and Nymphsfield as well as in nearby Cirencester.

Mr Harvey said he couldn't believe his eyes when he saw it.

He added: "I'd never seen anything like that in my life. I was a policeman for 25 years and saw plenty of foxes and badgers while on night duty, but this was different."

Danny Bamping, of the British Big Cats Society (corr), said Gloucestershire is a 'hot spot' for sightings.

He added: "Stroud has had several of these incidents in the past including an attack on a domestic dog.

"When looking out for big cats people should look for very large paw prints without claw marks because cats walk with their claws retracted.

"But it is pretty hard to mistake most big cats, such as leopards, with domestic animals."

He added that common areas for these sightings are near woodland because it provides food and cover, as well as near railway tracks and quarries.

It is believed that these animals could be the offspring of large cats kept as domestic pets in the UK during the 1960s and 1970s.

Because of the Dangerous Wild Animals Act, which came into force in 1976, many people released their large cats into the wild because they did not want to pay for a licence.