A Baldock resident is “convinced” that a big cat is roaming the fields and countryside near the town, after revealing he has seen a “big black animal” on a number of occasions.

Danny Boar has had a number of experiences at Buffs Field, close to where he lives, starting four years ago when he had an unexplainable experience late one night.

“I used to babysit my granddaughter so I got home around about midnight and I took the dog out and walked in a straight line across the field to this big lamppost,” he recalled.

"I would let her go to the toilet, sniff around in the bushes and then walk back, but this particular night I got halfway across the field and she wasn’t with me, which was strange because she’d always walk in front me.

"I looked around she’d stopped, so I walked over to the lamppost, called her over and she wouldn’t move.

"There was then this rustling in the bushes next to me, and all of sudden this big black animal rushed around in front of me and then clattered through the trees.

“I knew it wasn’t a dog because I could clearly see the tail in the light. It was long and it went right down to the ground and then curved back up again, kind of like an old pump handle.”

Having initially dismissed the incident, a chat with daughter changed his opinion.

“I went around to my daughter’s house the next day, told her what had happened and she said it sounded like a leopard,” he continued.

“Obviously I told her not to be stupid, but she told me to look it up and there have been so many sightings in Baldock.”

Big cat sightings have been fairly regular across Hertfordshire over the last 25 years, including a number of people spotting them in and around Baldock and nearby Letchworth.