Following the recent discovery of Panthera DNA on a sheep carcass in the Lake District, a woman from Burton-in-Kendal has sent in a photo of what she believes to have been a big cat in 2008.

86-year-old writer and local historian, Kath Hayhurst, was travelling in Dalton towards Hutton Roof Crags with her husband when they spotted a dead cat at the roadside near Plain Quarry. 

She says she took the photograph in the day time of August, 2008 after a spate of black cat sightings in the area.

Kath said: "We were driving by when we came across the cat laying by the roadside and quickly noticed its large size.

READ MORE: The Beast of Cumbria - Big cat DNA confirmed on sheep carcass

"We picked it up and put it in the boot of the car and took it home. I measured it from its ears to the tip of its tail and it was 22 inches. 

"Its features were more like a domestic cat, rather than a zoo-like cat, however it was just a lot bigger.

"I showed it to another writer, who has now sadly passed away, as there had been a few reported sightings in the area at that time.

"One lady had spotted a black cat in Dalton park and another at Newbiggin Lodge in Kirkby Lonsdale.

"We sadly had to put the cat in the dustbin, we presumed it had been hit by a car."

Kath submitted the photograph to the Westmorland Gazette after big cat investigators recently obtained evidence to support the presence of at least one big feline recently active in the county.

Sharon Larkin-Snowden, an experienced Cumbrian big cat investigator, came upon a sheep carcass and saw what she described as a black panther close by.

After taking three swabs, she sent them to big cat expert Rick Minter who then sent the samples to the University of Warwick.

Here, the team led by Professor Robin Allaby tested the swabs and found that one indicated a panthera result, meaning it is from the genus of big cats - distinct from domestic cats - with two yielding fox DNA.