The phantom Durham puma is not only real, but was recently spotted prowling the countryside, according to a wildlife expert.

Sergeant Eddie Bell, a Durham Constabulary wildlife liaison officer, recently received a report of a big brown cat lurking in the shadows of a rural area near Durham City.

While he has been informed of many similar sightings of what people believed to be the Durham puma over the past 20 years, most have turned out to be feral cats.

But Sgt Bell said the description given by the latest caller, who wishes to remain anonymous, left him in no doubt that he had seen the legendary beast.

"A man rang to report it and the description was very good," he said.

"It was a proper brown puma and its size and shape were described properly.

"About every 15th sighting is probably a puma."

In the 1960s and 70s, pumas were commonly kept as pets, but when new legislation restricting this took effect in 1976, many were released into the wild.

Sgt Bell believes there could still be up to 80 or 90 living in the British Isles.

Since 1986, he has received around 350 reports of sightings in County Durham, but believes that only around 70 of these were genuine.

He said the creatures could quite easily have survived largely undetected for so long.

"It's a very easy life for them here compared with North America, there they are from," he said.

"They have survived 10,000ft up in the Canadian Rockies, so there's nothing here that would worry them.

"They are very shy and will fight to the death to protect their territory, but they are not dangerous to people."

Sgt Bell believes there could be up to ten females living in the county, along with three roaming males.

"They never meet except to mate because if they did, they would kill each other," he said.

"There's no puma Women's Institute."

* Pumas can be recognised by their brown colouring and size - around 5ft from nose to base of tail and 28 inches from paw to shoulder, and weighing 160-170lbs. They live on farmland, are nocturnal, and can be spotted crossing roads, on old railway lines, or near riverbanks.