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A man says he spotted the mythical "Beast Of Dartmoor" lurking across a field but didn't have a camera - so has drawn a bizarre picture of it instead.

Steve Swatton, 60, was with his friend's son Brad Bugdale when they came across what they claimed was a panther.

The pair were walking through a field in Plymouth and were left shocked when they saw a "huge black" cat staring back at them.

Steve said "something black" and the "size of an Alsatian" caught his attention on Saturday afternoon, at about 4.30pm near Sparkwell Village.

But Steve doesn't own a phone and couldn't capture the beast - so he's drawn it instead.

The gym owner said: "I memorised what it looked like and as soon as I got home I started drawing it.

"I used to be quite good at sketching and I just kept changing the drawing until I got it right.

It was very sleek and about the size of an Alsatian. It was like looking at a shadow as it was jet black, as black as you can get.

(Image: SWNS)

"It was very powerful looking and its tail was very long too.

"What struck me about its tail was where it hung down its hindquarters it was very long and the same thickness all the way down.

"It was a perfect bow shape - if you put a piece of string across it, it would look like a strung bow."

He added: "It was watching us and I think we spotted each other at the same time as we were about 50 - 60 yards away.

"Then all of a sudden it disappeared and hopped over a hedge into the scrub land which leads into the forest.

"I ran up there as I thought there might be a chance of seeing it, but it was gone.

"It was probably more scared of us than us of it. I wasn't that scared at the time but thinking about it now if I had been cornered it could have got a bit nasty, as it probably weighs about 60/70lbs - heavy enough to bring a deer down."

In July keen golfer Hermann Welch claimed he nearly mowed down a wild panther in 2004 after a pack of pumas were released from Dartmoor Zoo.

There have been dozens of sightings of big cats over the years leading to the rise of the legend of the Beast of Dartmoor.