BIG cat enthusiasts claim to have new photographic evidence of a predator roaming the Stroud area, captured on trail cameras.

Andy Rule, 53, and wife Claire, 50, have spent more than a decade tracking big cats.

They first took an interest in the big cat phenomenon back in 2012 after the suspicious death of two deer.

Years ago, they set up trail cameras in woodland near Nympsfield in the hope of snapping a beast.

And their efforts have now paid off, they claim, as their cameras captured images of a cat in the wild. 

Andy, a former carer from Stroud, said: "We've had three cameras over half a mile that have picked up glimpses, in that area.

"What I believe [the cat] is doing is sniffing the ground.

"Between the first image of the tail and the side profile there was 53 seconds.

"If it had been a video, it would have caught it moving more fluently.

"I believe this cat we've seen now seems to be showing quite a bit of grey so I think it's a bit older.

"Most of the images we've caught are pure luck because the cats are scooting around the edges of them.

Gazette Series: Andy and Claire think they might have spotted a large cat near NympsfieldAndy and Claire think they might have spotted a large cat near Nympsfield (Image: Andy Rule / SWNS)

"Claire's always been interested in it, since growing up.

"But she asked me to take her to a spot of where the deer carcasses were found in 2012.

"We would spend our time off from caring for our son trying to get sightings of the black cat.

"We've been catching odd images all the way through. 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019 were really good years.

"But in 2020, when I lost my leg, we weren't able to do much with it.

"Once we got the care for our son, we were spending 55 hours a week in the field walking to all the cameras and checking regular routes for any sightings.

"Each six weeks or so you'd go to a different set of cameras and then spend weeks looking through thousands of pictures."

"I've shown a couple of people the images and they think it's a cat too.

"One of them has said is it maybe an older cat passing back through."

The couples' pictures follow reports in May that DNA from a black hair caught on a barbed wire fence in Gloucestershire following a sheep attack offered 'new proof' that big cats are roaming the countryside.