Deal leopard

"My wife and I were attending an alarm call out in Deal, Kent on Thursday (17th Nov 2011) night. The time was approx 0100 hours and we had driven from Margate so were fully awake and alert. We were about a mile away from Sholden on the Sandwich to Deal road near the fish farm. I was driving and said to my wife “ did you see that?” my wife immediately said “ the big black cat! with the really long tail”. The creature was sitting on the grass by the hedges on the left hand side and as we approached with headlights on main beam it slinked into hedge and out of sight. The creature in question was much larger than a domestic cat but not as big as a lion or tiger, but moved in the same way , almost with a swagger."