ANOTHER sighting of the mysterious Beast of Sedgemoor was made by a Bridgwater man on Saturday (February 24) morning.

Paul Smith had been out with friend Pete Coales up on the Quantocks when they spotted the animal at around 7.15am prowling through the grasses.

Although conclusive proof of the existence of the beast has never been found, the town man insisted to the Mercury that he was sure what he had seen.

Paul had been red deer-stalking on friend Pete's father's farmland when they both locked eyes on the creature.

"The cat was creeping along one of the deer tracks," he said.

"It just looked about and was just a bit bigger than a black Labrador, its tail was about three feet long, and we both had it in our scopes.

"It ran down over the hill into the woodlands - it was doing about 30 miles an hour."

Sightings of the beast have occurred infrequently over the past few years, with the most dramatic happening in 1992 when a family was attacked in its car by a creature with "massive teeth".

And Paul said he was certain what species the beast belonged to, due to other cat sightings he had made over the years elsewhere.

"It was definitely a panther, but wasn't fully grown," he revealed.

"It was Pete who spotted it - we know what we have seen."