A REDDITCH pensioner says he spotted a large black panther-like cat by the canal towpath at Tardebigge.

Sixty-seven-year-old Terry Dallaway from Ladygrove Close on the Greenlands estate said he was going for a walk along the towpath last Saturday afternoon when he saw the beast in the distance.

He said: "It was much bigger than a cat, so I used my binoculars. It had a black face and black along the back with a jet black tail and greyish underbelly. From nose to tail, it was about 5ft long."

Mr Dallaway said he was so surprised, but there was no-one about so he couldn't point it out to anybody until he got back to the car park.

"I would love to know if anyone else saw it," he said.