UK Government files reveal 6-month investigation to prove 'monster' that stalked moors near Bodmin was actually just a cat

Not such a big beast!

• £84,000 probe into Cornish 'beast' 19 years ago found it was a 12in cat 
• Experts looked at photographs and videos and staged reconstructions 
• Beast first 'spotted' in 1983, with at least 60 reported sightings since

By Mark Duell for MailOnline

Published: 14 December 2014 

Despite no solid proof of its existence ever being found, it is one of Britain’s most feared animals. But newly-unearthed records have revealed a six-month Government investigation into the Beast of Bodmin Moor proved it was far from a monster – and, rather, just a large pussycat. The probe in 1995 into the Cornish ‘beast’ and other unknown animals reported to have been roaming Britain found there was no 'verifiable evidence' of exotic cats loose in the UK.

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Previous 'sighting': In July, there was an alleged sighting of the Beast of Bodmin Moor when a teenager taking photographs in fields near his home in Cornwall spotted 'something run across the field'

Feared animal: The Beast of Bodmin Moor was first ‘spotted’ in 1983, and there have since been at least 60 reported sightings - including this one

A group of experts found the 'beast' was actually a black cat about 12in (30cm) tall, after spending £84,000 in today’s money looking at photographs and videos, as well as staging reconstructions.

Sheffield Hallam University journalism professor David Clarke - an expert on contemporary myths - found the findings in a file at the Public Record Office, reported The Sun journalist Paul Sims.

The 'beast' was first ‘spotted’ in 1983, and there have since been at least 60 reported sightings. But the report in 1995 by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food declared it a phantom.

Found in 1995: A skull with large fangs and what was thought to be the remains of a big cat were found in the River Fowey near the moor by a boy

However the researchers also concluded that they had been unable to prove that big cats were 'not present.'

But shortly after the report was published, a skull with large fangs and what was thought to be the remains of a big cat were found in the River Fowey near the moor by a boy aged 14.

The skull was sent to the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, central London, for verification - where it was found it was a genuine skull from a young male leopard.

They also found that the cat had not died in Britain. In fact, the skull had been imported as part of a leopard-skin rug.  Then in 1998 a 20-second video was released and said by some experts as the best evidence yet that big cats had roamed the moor. In July, MailOnline reported a recent alleged sighting of the 'beast' when a teenager taking photographs in fields near his home in Cornwall spotted ‘something run across the field.’

Henry Warren, 19, said at the time that the animal was ‘absolutely massive and was hopping up and down like a large cat - there's no way it was a fox or a dog’.

Mr Warren managed to take several frames before the animal disappeared into undergrowth in the field at Gwinear, just a few miles from remote Bodmin Moor where the 'beast' is said to roam.

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