'Croydon cat killer' fears as Christchurch pet found beheaded and with tail cut off

A DISTRAUGHT Christchurch woman fears her beloved pet was killed by the so-called 'Croydon cat killer' after it was found with its head and tail cut off.

Emma Jane Blehs, who lives in Stour Road, discovered her nine-year-old pet Alley was dead when she was called by a vet in Boscombe where the body had been handed in.

In tears, Emma said: “Alley comes and goes around the local roads, so we were not too worried when she had not come home for a day.

"Then I got a call from Natter Jacks vets on Tuesday to tell me her decapitated body had been given to them by a client of theirs who had found it.

“I was absolutely distraught. I didn’t think it could have been an accident – her head was still missing. I put an appeal out on social media and someone told me to get in touch with the South Norwood Animal Rescue and Liberty organisation.

“Tony Jenkins, who runs it, asked me if the cat’s tail had also been cut off. I didn’t know so I rang the vets and they said it had. Tony told me that was the signature of the Croydon cat killer.

"The vets have told me Alley’s injuries were clean cuts, and they did not think she had been attacked by an animal.”

A spokesperson for Dorset Police said the force had received a report on Tuesday from a vet in Bournemouth that the body of a cat had been found. They said it was believed the cat was killed deliberately. Officers from the local neighbourhood policing team have also been made aware.

The 'Croydon cat killer' name was born from incidents first reported to the Metropolitan police in Croydon in 2014. But Mr Jenkins, who has been investigating the deaths for six years, said he believes the person responsible has struck in similar ways across the south-east and recently in the south-west.

He said: “I suspect this poor lady’s cat in Christchurch was a victim of this awful person. It bears all the hallmarks of their vile work. Its head and tail being cut off, the body discovered in a garden with the head missing – these are all things the Croydon cat killer does.

“There was a cat killed in very similar circumstances in Southampton last week and there was a recent case in Poole. I have investigated over 1,000 killings of cats I believe were the work of this person or persons.

“They have to be found. The horror they are reaping is just indescribable.”

Emma has reported her cat’s death to the police. She said: “The sick, twisted person who did this has to be found.

"Alley meant the world to me and my husband. I said to him, ‘I could have coped if this had been a traffic accident’ but this is just beyond words.”

The Metropolitan police closed its investigation into the Croydon cat killer in 2018. Officers said they believed the pets had been run over and then mutilated by foxes. But some vets and other police forces have disagreed.

Mr Jenkins said: "There was criticism that the Met investigation was closed due to funding, rather than its findings. I continue to be contacted by vets and police who believe that the Croydon cat killer is still at large."

Last year Conservative Elliot Colburn, MP for Carshalton and Wallington, demanded in the House of Commons that the investigation be reopened after a spate of mysterious pet deaths in his constituency.

At the time he said: “The conclusion was that this was down to urban foxes, which the owners of these cats find a bit fanciful – and I have to say I agree.”