After dismissing West Indies for 437 in reply to their 553 for five declared, England declared their second innings closed at 284 for eight to set West Indies 401 to win.
At the close of the fourth day, the tourists were seven without loss in their second innings.
Panesar became the first spinner in Test history to dismiss five batsmen lbw as he recorded his fourth five-wicket haul in his short test career.
Pietersen then consolidated England's advantage in the evening session by unfurling a series of imperious drives to reach his seventh Test century from 122 balls. His second 50 took only 39 balls before he was out lbw trying to reverse sweep Chris Gayle.Panesar's last five wickets were all lbw awarded by Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf after he bowled Devon Smith with his opening delivery of the match on Saturday.
On Sunday, he dismissed Shivnarine Chanderpaul for 74 with the fourth delivery of his first over and he wrapped up in the innings by hitting Corey Collymore (1) in front of the stumps.
Steve Harmison, who conceded 95 runs on Saturday without taking a wicket, dismissed Jerome Taylor caught at point for 21.
Harmison's match so far after his disappointing Ashes series in Australia was summed up when number nine Daren Powell stepped to leg to drive him for four then played a classical cover-drive to the boundary from the next delivery on his way to his highest Test score of 36 not out.
Collymore, taking the new ball instead of Taylor, gave an excellent exhibition of seam bowling, dismissing acting captain Andrew Strauss (24), Owais Shah (4) and Alastair Cook, who followed up his first innings with 105 with 64.
Strauss was given a life on 10 when wicket-keeper Denesh Ramdin failed to grasp a hard chance from an inside edge off Powell. He fell to a fine ball from Collymore which drew him forward and flew off the edge to Runako Morton at second slip.
Shah, who scored only six in the first innings, was caught down the leg side by Ramdin and Cook was also caught by Ramdin off an outside edge. Cook's fourth Test half-century had taken 125 balls and contained eight fours.
Cook's was overshadowed by Pietersen who injected overdue urgency into the batting.
Paul Collingwood kept him company with a lofted four over mid-on and a bottom-handed drive through extra-cover plus some swift running between the wickets.
He received a life on 29 when Powell failed to hold on to a catch at long-leg off Bravo while Pietersen had a reprieve on 94 when a faint edge off Gayle down the leg-side hit Ramdin on the pads.
Collingwood was finally out for 34, caught by Morton at deep backward square-leg from another lofted hook.
Matt Prior struck two fours and two consecutive sixes to race to 21 from nine balls before he was caught off Gayle.
Scoreboard
ENGLAND (1st Innings) 553-5 declared
(M.J. Prior 126 not out, P.D. Collingwood 111, I.R. Bell 109 not out, A.N. Cook 105).
WEST INDIES (1st Innings, overnight 363-7):
C.H. Gayle b Plunkett 30
D. Ganga lbw b Panesar 49
D.S. Smith b Panesar 21
R.R. Sarwan lbw b Panesar 35
S. Chanderpaul lbw b Panesar 74
R.S. Morton lbw b Panesar 14
D.J. Bravo c Cook b Collingwood 56
D. Ramdin c Collingwood b Plunkett 60
D.B. Powell not out 36
J.E. Taylor c sub b Harmison 21
C.D. Collymore lbw b Panesar 1
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-17, W-16, NB-3) 40
TOTAL (all out, 116.1 overs) 437
FALL OF WKTS: 1-38, 2-83, 3-151, 4-165, 5-187, 6-279, 7-362, 8-387, 9-424.
BOWLING: Hoggard 10.1-3-29-0; Harmison 28-2-117-1 (2nb, 4w); Plunkett 30-7-107-2 (4w); Collingwood 11.5-2-34-1 (1nb); Panesar 36.1-3-129-6.
ENGLAND (2nd Innings):
A.J. Strauss c Morton b Collymore 24
A.N. Cook c Ramdin b Collymore 65
O.A. Shah c Ramdin b Collymore 4
K.P. Pietersen lbw b Gayle 109
P.D. Collingwood c Morton b Bravo 34
I.R. Bell c Ganga b Bravo 3
M.J. Prior c Bravo b Gayle 21
L.E. Plunkett st Ramdin b Gayle 0
S.J. Harmison not out 11
M.S. Panesar not out 3
EXTRAS (B-1, LB-3, W-1, NB-5) 10
TOTAL (for eight decl, 66.5 overs) 284
FALL OF WKTS: 1-35, 2-51, 3-139, 4-241, 5-248, 6-264, 7-264, 8-271.
BOWLING: Powell 9-0-44-0; Collymore 15-1-58-3 (2nb); Gayle 20.5-4-66-3 (1nb, 1w); Bravo 18-2-91-2 (2nb); Taylor 4-0-21-0.
WEST INDIES (2nd Innings):
C.H. Gayle not out 0
D. Ganga not out 4
EXTRAS (W-3) 3
TOTAL (for no wkt, 2 overs) 7
BOWLING (to-date): Harmison 1-0-2-0 (2w); Plunkett 1-0-5-0 (1w).—Agencies