A THIRD sighting of the jungle beast, which has been prowling Halesowen gardens for the last couple of weeks, has been reported.

The Asian palm civet gave Margaret Hanson a fright when she looked out of her kitchen window to see the nocturnal mammal staring back at her at about 8pm.

Husband Barry said it was keeping dry from the rain on a platform he had built to do repairs on the house in Alvechurch Road, on the Huntlands estate.

He said: "There's a piece of plywood above the platform and it sheltered from the rain.

It stayed until about 9pm and did not flinch from the camera flash as Mr Hanson photographed it through the window.