A MONKEY sighting in Dorchester first featured in the Dorset Echo has made national headlines go bananas.

Student Terri Leigh Cox has found herself at the centre of a media storm after she featured in the Dorset Echo on Saturday.

The astonished teenager managed to snatch a hurried picture on her camera phone of a mystery creature from her window in Fordington.

She says the ‘monkey’ scampered across Salisbury Fields and up a tree on Thursday afternoon.

National newspapers picked up on the story which has also shot around the world online.

Miss Cox, 17, said: “The reaction to my photo has been a complete shock.

“I have had my friends and family calling me to say I’ve been spotted in a load of different national newspapers.”

The monkey sighting drama has so far been splashed across the news pages of The Sun, The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Mirror, Metro and The Mail Online.

Miss Cox, who is studying health and social care at Weymouth College, added: “My mum told me to contact the Echo after I took the photo.

“I can’t believe a story like this in the Dorset Echo has had such a reaction, it is very exciting.”

Many residents and dog walkers expressed their shock at the alleged sighting.

Jean Cumber, 80, who lives adjacent to the fields, added: “It does seem very strange but I would never say never about anything.

“I’ve never seen a monkey or anything like a monkey in Dorchester before.”

Derek Dodd, who walks his dog regularly in the area, said: “I have seen a lot of wildlife on these fields but a monkey-like creature isn’t one of them.”

Resident Rob Samways said: “I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for now.

“I suppose someone could have been keeping it as a pet and it escaped.”

Dog walker Lynn Jenkins added: “It’s not as strange as people who claim they have seen UFOs, so I’d never rule out that a monkey or something like it had been seen here.”

Miss Cox, an expectant mother who lives with her boyfriend Shaun Bessant in Salisbury Mews, said she would be keeping her eyes peeled for a second sighting of the primate.

emma.walker@dorsetecho.co.uk