New sighting of 'panther' reported in Wakefield district

Phil Taylor saw a panther-like creature from his work van when he was parked on Holmsley Lane in South Kirkby.

It follows a video taken at Heath Common earlier this month that jogger Jeff Johnson said showed a big cat.

Mr Taylor said: “I was sat in my work van with the green belt to my right hand side. There is a row of houses to my left hand side.

"I looked up and saw a black animal walk across my van from left to right.

“The animal was approximately 15 metres away from me. I saw it for five-10 seconds.

“It was a black cat the size of a large dog such as a Labrador. It was jet black with a tail and without doubt was not a house animal.

“It walked into a grassed undergrowth and I did go and check that area but there was no sign of the animal or foot prints etc.

“It was definitely a cat, not a dog, and there were no animals being walked around here. I thought it was more of a panther-style cat but I’m not an expert.”

After the footage was published at the beginning of this month another witness contacted the Express to say he saw an identical breed of animal 20 years ago near Batley Sport Centre.

Adam Windle said: “One summer we all had a kick about and we saw what we first thought was a massive black dog. The thing ran like the Puma badge and it became evident this was a big black cat.

“There were 30 lads there all with their jaws on the floor.

"I was just so perplexed I didn't have time to be scared. We're not in deepest, darkest Peru - this is Batley."

There have been numerous ‘Beast of Ossett’ sighting over the last

That story hit national headlines in 2000 when observers likened it to a big black Irish wolfhound.

Three years later there was a report of a large black cat stalking the village of Wintersett.

Further sightings were reported in Alverthorpe, Wintersett, Newmillerdam and Notton.

Email james.carney@nationalworld with any sightings.