Mystery figure terrorises neighbourhood by prowling the streets - dressed as a black cat

Daily Mail​

7 hours ago

A mysterious figure dressed in a catsuit and prowling along paths near Wallasey Beach in the Wirral has terrified locals.
The person has caused chaos in the neighbourhood in Merseyside with some residents revealing they had 'never been so scared' after they encountered him.
The figure, dressed entirely in a skin-tight black cat suit and mask, has been described as an 'urban jaguar', 'banshee' and a 'gimp' by residents after he was caught meowing and writhing around on the ground.
Pictures and videos on social media show the peculiar person prancing along a path and wriggling under fences near a local Harvester pub.
In a post on a local Facebook community page, Abbie Gilbert wrote: 'Anyone know who the freak in the cat mask and morph suit is at the coastal park near the harvester?
'Was walking my dog tonight and heard a man making cat noises, shone a torch he was waving his arms at me before crawling up the hill! Never been so scared!'
Accompanying pictures showed a shadowy figure walking uphill, snapped in the torch light of Ms Gilbert's phone.
One resident told the BBC that she noticed something strange as she walked her dog.
Pictures and videos on social media show the peculiar person prancing along a path and wriggling under fences near a local Harvester pub
She explained that as soon as she walked away from nearby streetlights, she began to hear growling.
Her terrier Mac began barking and she shone her phone torch in to the field where she spotted 'a man in a panther costume', crawling up the hill towards her on all fours.
She added: 'I didn't feel scared really, he was just waving his arms and making panther noises. I felt more confused than scared.'
One resident, Becky Edwards, commented under the post that it was the same figure her friend had seen a few months ago and posted a picture of the man in a cat suit wriggling around on the floor near a fence.
Another local, Adam Crouch, the owner of nearby Northern Kites Kitesurf and Wingfoil School, told the Telegraph that he thought it may simply be someone 'having a laugh'.
However Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner Emily Spurrell encouraged anyone spotting the mysterious figure in a morph suit to report it to the police immediately.
While the shadowy figure has sparked concern among some locals, others thought the incident was hilarious and took to Facebook to poke fun at the bizarre incident.
Some joked, writing: 'I went through a stage of doing this year's ago but I've now got through it, don't ask MEOW!!!!' and 'Hi, this is my cat. He isn't chipped and is quite skittish, we've been missing him for a few days so please don't approach again. We're hoping he comes back home soon, my wife's boyfriend is worried sick'.
Others called it 'the stuff of nightmares' while some asked 'is catting a thing now?'.
MailOnline has contacted Merseyside Police for comment.
The episode has drawn comparisons with the 'Somerset Gimp' who terrified motorists driving home at night by dressing in a black gimp suit in May 2023 in Bleadon, near Weston-super-Mare.
Joshua Hunt, 32, was banned for five years from wearing masks, dressing in all-in-one black outfits at night and 'crawling, wriggling or writhing on the ground' in public after being linked to 25 horrifying incidents.
Hunt's victims recalled never being so scared and told the court: 'I have never felt fear like that before, or since and I can only describe the scene as like something you see in a horror movie, I was that scared.'
Avon and Somerset Police confirmed that Hunt had previously been arrested on suspicion of causing a public nuisance over a series of other 'gimp' incidents in the Cleeve, Claverham and Yatton areas of the county last year.