The Beast of Sydenham: Anthony Holder attacked by a black big cat in his garden

For years, Britain had whispered about big cats loose in the countryside. The Surrey Puma. The Kent beasts. One theory followed them everywhere: exotic pets released after the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976. Sydenham had its own entry. In October 2002, Scotland Yard confirmed a sighting of a large black cat in the area, and wardens at the Sydenham Wells Park gates warned dog walkers.

Tuesday, 22 March 2005. Approximately 02:18. Anthony Holder, a former soldier, went into the back garden of his terraced house in Sydenham Park, SE26, to call in the family cat. A large black animal came out of the bushes. It seemed to be after the cat. Then it turned on him.

"All of a sudden I see this big black thing pouncing at me, knocked me flying," he told LBC radio. To the Daily Mail he said: "I was terrified. I was staring into the whites of its eyes and it was growling and baring its teeth." It weighed a lot more than him, he said, and was "at least 5ft long". By one account it mauled him with its claws for about 30 seconds.

His daughter Ashleigh saw it happen. "I saw my dad flying backwards and struggling with something. I was really scared." Holder scrambled back into the house. He was left with a six-inch scratch down one cheek, scratches on his arm and a wound to his finger.

The Metropolitan Police took it seriously. One officer who answered the call believed they saw "a large black cat-like animal approx. the same size as a Labrador dog." Officers saw what they took to be the culprit running into the darkness. They could not get a clear view.

Armed officers and marksmen patrolled in cars, and Holder's wife Joy said: "Armed police turned up. We had the sniper squad in here and everything." The RSPCA attended, London Zoo was consulted, and Zippo's Circus confirmed it no longer used big cats and had not lost one. Residents were told to call 999 and keep pets indoors. No animal was caught.

Doubts came later. In April 2007, Neil Arnold of Kent Big Cat Research wrote that the injuries were not consistent with a leopard attack, and that leopards do not show the whites of their eyes. Yet he still believed a black leopard, descended from released pets, may live in the area.

The record never quite lined up. Holder's weight was given as 13 stone and as 15. The animal was 5ft long, or six. Holder described something bigger than himself. The officer saw something the size of a Labrador.

Danny Bamping of the Big Cats Society saw it differently. "Between 50 and 100 big cats are thought to be roaming free in Britain. Mr Holder was lucky."

Journalist Helen Barrett and her family reported another sighting near Crystal Palace in August 2009. "It was black, the size of a labrador, but walking like a cat. It had to be feline." Reports reportedly continued until 2015, including pets killed by something, then fell silent. The wider record on British big cats finds no substantive evidence that such incidents were caused by a non-domestic species. The Beast of Sydenham remains unexplained.