THIS is the poor moggy from Winchester that that has been voted the ugliest cat in Hampshire.

Owner Joy Brown took the picture of her bedraggled 14-week-old kitten after she gave him his first bath.

The 66-year-old grandmother could not believe how ugly her soggy moggy looked after he had been scrubbed in her kitchen sink.

So she took a photo of the £250 kitten and entered it into a competition searching for the ugliest cat.

Mrs Brown and her husband Dave, 67, were not surprised when Sahani scooped the first prize.

Now, after getting Sahani used to baths, the fearless moggy just loves getting wet.

The daring Persian blue colour point kitten even takes a chance of falling into his owner's pond to grab frogs.

Mrs Brown, a hairdresser, is now convinced that Sahani's regular baths have transformed the cat from the county's ugliest moggy into one of the best-looking.

Mrs Brown said: "The first time we washed him, when he was about 14 weeks old, he was the ugliest thing I had ever seen.

"I thought he looked like the alien ET.

"We'd paid £250 for him and he wasn't exactly the picture-perfect pedigree we thought we'd bought.

"I took a picture because it made us laugh so much and was not surprised when Sahani was voted the ugliest cat in Hampshire."

She now thinks Sahani, now 18 months old, has blossomed into a handsome specimen.

Mrs Brown said: "I think he is proof that an ugly duckling can grow up to be handsome."