A Bromsgrove man claims to have spotted a black panther while walking home from the shops.

David Wherton, 68, said he stumbled upon a “muscular” cat-like creature walking down a dried up stream bed between Royal Worcester Crescent and Penshurst Road. Mr Wherton, of Royal Worcester Crescent, said:

“I was walking back from Bromsgrove with my wife Jennifer at about 2.30pm on Saturday. It was very hot so we stopped under the shelter of a tree for shade and my wife noticed it first, walking down a dried up stream bed.

“We just stood there for half a minute or so and could not believe our eyes and by the time I went to get my camera it disappeared into the undergrowth. It was very muscular and it looked very cat-like.

“It was about Labrador size and had a big tail about as long as his body. It was just swaying from side to side and he walked very cat like too. It was definitely a black panther. I know what I saw."

It is not the first time residents have claimed to have seen a big cat in the region. Last October, an Alcester resident said he saw a growling leopard dubbed the Warwickshire Wild Cat.

Redditch, Malvern and Worcester residents also reportedly spotted a panther last March. 

A spokesman for Worcestershire Wildlife Trust said at the time: "It is always possible that there is a panther, or other big cat, in our countryside but there hasn’t yet been any firm evidence to prove that they’re there."