A FEROCIOUS feline has hospitalised a disabled woman from Stourport-on-Severn.

Grandmother of two Linda Meredith was in the bedroom of her Claerwen Avenue home when a cat which had been terrorising her and her pets pounced on her, clawing a large chunk of flesh from her leg.

Now police and the RSPCA have told the petrified cat lover - who passed out following the ordeal and needed stitches - that nothing can be done about her attacker because she does not know where it is from.

She believes the cat - which scratched her hand when she was locking her cat flap weeks earlier and has also attacked her own pet cat, dislocating its shoulder - entered her property through the flap.

Now, despite sealing the pet entry and locking her doors, she is afraid the beast will pounce on her if she leaves the house or could attack a child. "I'm a cat lover and wouldn't see any harm to anyone's cats but I'd shoot this one if I could - I'm utterly terrified of it," said Mrs Meredith.

"I was sat on the bed making a fuss of my cat when she started growling and then I looked down at the bottom of the bed and saw this great big cat.

"I got up from the bed and said 'out' but it just stared at me and growled at me, then went up on its two hind legs and spat at me.

"It then jumped at the top of my leg. I managed to knock it off, but it was still growling and when I looked down at my trousers I saw they were covered in blood."

The 57-year-old, who is diabetic and registered disabled, tried to fend off her assailant with a wicker chair - only to be attacked again.

"I was trembling because I was in such a state and it took me about 10 minutes to push it downstairs," she said.

"But as I got to the bottom and opened the front door, I let go of the chair and it sprung on me again and tore a chunk from my leg."

Mrs Meredith eventually managed to get out of the house and was taken to hospital by a neighbour. By the time she returned home, the feline fiend had disappeared.