Notable former residents of a home often garner public interest, and there is a (furry) tale to tell about the one-time occupant of the garden of this house in Cricklewood.
“If anyone had told us the ‘Beast of Barnet’ was living and roaming around the undergrowth at the end of our long garden we would have thought it was all a joke and never would have believed them,” says Farhana Meerza, 56, who has lived at the 13-bedroom house on Hocroft Road for many years.
“The story of the ‘Beast of Barnet’ spans over a decade and from 1991 onwards there were various sightings and reports of a mysterious panther like creature in the gardens of the Hocroft Estate,” she remembers.
“My husband and I never took it seriously and we said it was all nonsense, until of course we found out our back garden had been its lair. We understand one of the residents of the Hocroft Estate had kept the lynx illegally in their house, and occasionally it had escaped and then roamed in and around our garden and those of our other neighbours.”
In 1998, the north London area was gripped by fear as panic over the Beast of Barnet rose to fever pitch. Residents of suburban Cricklewood were warned to secure their homes and watch out for the Beast of Barnet, a big cat that had been spotted prowling around a residential area.
The Metropolitan Police scanned from the skies with a helicopter equipped with thermal imaging cameras, police marksmen patrolled the streets, and more officers with loudhailers warned Londoners to lock their doors and windows.
Attempts to capture the Beast of Barnet would be unsuccessful for three more years. Then, in 2001, a cleaner named Carol Montague working at Meerza’s house on Hocroft Road spotted a huge cat sitting on the garden fence.
"I thought it was a leopard or something,” Montague told the Telegraph.
“It was the size of an Alsatian with mottled beige and grey fur with what looked like little black feathers on the top of its ears and very soft looking baby fur on its belly. I called the police immediately. I don't think they believed me at first because they just laughed."
But when the police looked through the kitchen window and realised the size of the animal, they realised it was no laughing matter. The RSPCA was called, who in turn contacted London Zoo, who sent their head lion keeper over to assess the situation.
"We get numerous calls reporting big cat sightings, and so far all have proved incorrect,” lion keeper Ray Charter told the Guardian. “So you can imagine my surprise when I bent down to look under the hedge, expecting to see a large ginger tom, only to be met by a much more exotic face."
Having identified the Beast of Barnet was, in fact, a rare Eurasian Lynx, a vet from the zoo managed to shoot it with a tranquilliser dart. Startled rather than sleepy, the lynx hopped the fence and ran across a playing field before being cornered in the stairwell of Avenue Court.
Taking aim from behind a wheelie bin, the vet was finally able to sedate the her. Rechristened Lara the Lynx, the fluffy troublemaker was taken to London Zoo and re-homed in their big cat enclosure. Thought to be an escaped illegal exotic pet, her owner was never found.
Lara eventually found love after being transferred to the Parc Zoologique du Bois de Coulange. She took a mate, gave birth to many lynx cubs, and lived out her days until her death in 2009.
“[It’s] a really nice ending to the story,” says Meerza.
Meerza is planning to downsize now her daughters have grown up, and the house on Horcroft Road where it all began is on the market for £8 million with Beauchamp Estates.
Along with 13 bedrooms (two of which are for staff), the 10,127-square-foot house includes a wealth of amenities that include an indoor swimming pool, sauna and gym. There’s also a large driveway with two garages behind a carriage gate. The large garden — lynx-approved — includes a terrace and a pond.
The agents stress the property is entirely “now totally beast free”.
