A stunned holidaymaker has captured a "fascinating" video of a "panther-like" big cat crossing a field with a dead rabbit in its mouth."

Paul Murtha spotted the mystery beast while he was enjoying a weekend break with his wife in Northumberland.

The video recorded by Paul has been hailed "fascinating" by some experts"

Paul and his wife Carly from Sunderland were enjoying a BBQ while on holiday, when she saw the animal in a nearby field.

Paul said: "We had just set up our camper and sat down to a BBQ when my wife noticed the animal. "

"She said 'Look at the size of that! What is it?' So I got my phone and began to record because I thought no one would believe how big it was." "

"Granted, the footage ain't the best but 100 percent this did not look like a house cat. It was the size of a small Labrador. I was about half a mile away from it and I don't think you'd even see a house cat from that distance."

After the sighting Paul posted the footage on Facebook, commenting: "What is this thing? Video taken from about half a mile away. Full rabbit hanging out its gob. Gotta be a panther!"

"I'm not an expert by any means but it certainly was bigger than any house cat I've seen before. That was about half a mile from me. I would have thought I wouldn't even spot a house cat, and it had no problem carrying either the rabbit or hare it had. How it moved also, when you see it with your own eyes, I 100 percent believe this was not a normal house cat."

Several people commented on the footage, with opinions being divided.

Karen Wilkinson said: "Looks like a panther deffo check and see if there's any footprints around". "

While Paul Heister claimed it's a "domestic cat"."

However, some experts have not been so quick to dismiss the footage.

Writer and researcher Tim Whittard has been studying the British big cat phenomenon for over two decades.

He said: "Mr. Murtha's footage is really rather fascinating. I can see why some people are not entirely convinced by it, but I'm inclined to believe the witness in this case. "

"I would find it a lot easier to dismiss without the knowledge that Mr. Murtha has measured the fence posts in the background at 5'6" tall, which could have significant implications when determining scale. If it is a domestic cat, then I would say it's a rather large one."

Tim, who is appearing in a new documentary ‘Unexplained Island' exploring a range of unsolved mysteries on the Isle of Wight, including big cats, added: "There are certainly abnormally large domestic cats out there, both here and abroad. "

"I recall a case from New Zealand some years back where a truly massive feral house cat was shot by a possum hunter. It measured 1.05 metres when stretched out, weighed around 11kg, had a 45 cm tail, and 14 mm long canines."

In 2022 Carl Marshall took specimens from the site of a sheep kill on a Stroud farm, which later returned a positive DNA match to a leopard.

Carl continues to actively research reports of big cats in Britain, and is optimistic that more compelling evidence will come forward.

He said: "There is more and more footage coming from the general public – mobile phones, dashcams, CCTV and even doorbell cameras have all been claimed to have captured big cats, so it seems there is greater opportunity than ever before to capture evidence on camera."

"The Stroud area in Gloucestershire seems to be a great study area for big cats, with some excellent research being done by Andy and Claire Rule - they have been running a large scale trail cam study in the area for several years, which has caught some very interesting photos of possible big cats. We have also found interesting claw marks on several trees in Andy and Claire's study area."

"There is also growing interest from the academic community, with students from several universities choosing to explore the subject of big cats in Britain for elective modules and disserations, including students from the Royal Agricultural University, the University of the West of England, Bournemouth University, Goldsmith University and Warwick University."