Woman who saw Essex lion said it was tan coloured with a white chest
Denise Martin was the first to spot the suspected lion yesterday evening from the windows of her caravan near Clacton. She said it was tan coloured with a white chest.
Mrs Martin, from Canvey Island, was spending the Bank Holiday weekend at the site with her husband, and brother.
– Denise Martin, Eyewitness"I was looking out of the window and we saw smoke - it looked like there had been a bit of a bonfire. When you are in a caravan you panic about smoke,"
"When the smoke cleared I could see this shape in the field, so I got the binoculars out. We had a look and it looked like a lion.
"I said to my husband 'What do you make of that?' He said 'That's a lion.' We walked out of the caravan nearer to the field to get a better look.
"Five or 10 minutes later we got my brother and my sister-in-law to have a look. They came and looked at it and said 'It looks like a lion.' My husband phoned the police."

