Mother captures image of big cat

8:55am Tuesday 10th October 2006

When Jo Naylor looked out of her daughter's bedroom window she couldn't believe what she saw - a big cat-like creature skulking in fields near her house.

Watching transfixed for about 15 minutes as the animal prowled, Mrs Naylor, 51, of Carswell, near Faringdon, thought she must get the creature on camera.

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But when she took a picture, the camera flashed and the beast ran off into the distance - leaving the mother of two with this grainy image of what she thinks can only be a big cat.

Mrs Naylor, an independent financial adviser who works in Faringdon, was closing the window in the bedroom of her daughter Amelia, 16.

She said: "I was looking out of the window and saw this black thing way off in the field.

"I watched it for about 10 to 15 minutes and then went to get my camera. When I got back, it was a lot closer and I managed to get a better look at it. It was just lolloping around the area. I took a picture and the flash sent it running up the field and through the woods."

The next morning, Mrs Naylor and her husband David, 52, went out to look and both of them saw what looked like two creatures in the distance.

Mrs Naylor, who also has a 14-year-old son Harry, showed the picture of the animal to friends and neigh- bours and heard there had also been a big cat sighting in Longworth recently.

"When I first saw the animal I thought it was a big dog, but the tail was much longer and it looks like a big black cat," she said.

The sighting took place last Monday.