A fresh sighting of a mysterious black beast and a mutilated deer could be yet more evidence of a big cat thought to be prowling around Norfolk.

Jill Nobbs saw a large, dark coloured animal in the field at the bottom of her garden in Blofield on Wednesday.

She said: "The creature was about the size of a Labrador but longer and thinner and it ran extremely quickly.

"There were no signs of anyone walking a dog. I believe it was a wild animal, probably a puma."

She added that the animal was chasing something red - possibly a fox or a small deer.

The sighting added to the mounting pile of tales of a mystery black cat stalking Norfolk, along with reports of a mutilated deer found by two teenagers on a footpath near Stalham.

The carcass was discovered by 18-year-old Diana Turner and a friend as they walked along Weavers Way near Stepping Stone Lane just outside Stalham.

The teenagers were shocked when they found the small deer and took a photograph which they later showed to Barrie Slater, the father of Miss Turner's boyfriend.

Mr Slater said they had struggled to think of anything else that could have caused the damaged - other that a large, and perhaps feral, dog. He said: "There is nothing around big enough to do that much damage. It appears to have had its neck broken which is the sort of thing big cats do. It's an enormous bite."

Mr Slater contacted us about the deer after seeing photographs of the huge scratches supposedly left by a big cat on a tree near North Walsham on Sunday April 5.

Shaun Baxter, a house husband from Bowthorpe, near Norwich, said he saw the black panther leaving his mark while out shooting rabbits in a field off Bacton Road between North Walsham and Edingthorpe.