A BOURNEMOUTH woman claims she had a scary encounter with a big cat the size of an Alsatian in her back garden.

Pam Skilton, from Alum Chime, went into her garden at 3am to let her elderly dog use the toilet.

But walking along the wall towards her, she says she saw a creature with thick, black fur and a pointed nose.

"It didn't look like a cat because it had a pointed face," said Pam, 59.

"But it was too big to be a fox.

"I have never seen anything like it.

"I was literally eight feet away. It was illuminated by a streetlight.

"I clapped my hands and it ran away.

"It had a distinctive white point to its tail.

"My dog is old and nearly blind and she just woofed a bit."

Big cat expert Merrily Harpur, from Frampton, who runs dorsetbigcats.org said: "Judging by the colour and size it does not sound like a fox - certainly not with black fur, thought they do sometimes have a white tip.

"It's a mystery because, like a lot of sightings, this woman got a good look at it and it's a person used to seeing wildlife.

"We get a lot of sightings in the Bournemouth and Christchurch area."

Andy Eliot, a big cat enthusiast from Dorset Wildlife Trust, said: "It's a plausible report but a very big cat is normally around collie size."