Cat Found Decapitated Might Be Victim of Serial Cat Killer, Owner Says

A cat who was found decapitated in an English garden may have been the victim of an alleged serial cat killer, according to the pet's owner.

Emma Janes Blehs told Newsweek she believes her cat, Alley, is the latest victim of the so called "Croydon Cat Killer," an individual or group of individuals previously linked to several reports of mutilated cats found in Croydon and the Greater London area.

In 2018, an investigation by the Metropolitan Police concluded the killings were "likely to be the result of predation or scavenging by wildlife on cats killed in vehicle collisions."

However, campaigners and at least one local politician have questioned the findings of that investigation and are calling for further police action.

The Daily Echo first reported on the story of Alley, a 10-year-old cat who was found beheaded by a local resident in Bournemouth, England, on November 2.

Alley's body was taken to Natterjacks Vets where staff carried out X-rays and contacted the police. A spokesperson for Dorset Police told the news outlet they believe the cat was deliberately killed.

"Dorset Police received a report at around 10.25 a.m. on Tuesday, November 2, from a vet in Bournemouth that the body of a cat had been found," they said.

"It is believed that the cat was killed deliberately. Officers from the local neighborhood policing team have been made aware and inquiries into the matter are ongoing."

Blehs, who had looked after Alley since she was a kitten, received a phone call on Tuesday night informing her of the news. She last saw Alley on Sunday morning, with vets able to identify her by microchip. The nature of her death has left Blehs in shock.

"All I can see in my head is her being held down by the throat and her head on a stake somewhere," she told The Daily Echo. "She really was a special cat. She was timid, very independent but would not go to anyone other than me."

Alley's head has yet to be discovered.

Blehs told the news outlet her husband is "convinced this is to do with Halloween" but a new theory has emerged in the days since Alley's initial discovery. Posting an update to Facebook, Blehs alleged that the individual behind the killing could be the so-called "Croydon cat killer."

Blehs reached her conclusion after speaking to South Norwood Animal Rescue and Liberty (SNARL) about Alley's death.

She told Newsweek that SNARL informed her that the killing "is the exact same work as the Croydon cat killer" in almost "every way."

"They cut the head and tail off very cleanly and throw the body in a garden, not far away, to be found," she said. "The head may turn up a few days later in a neighboring garden."

Tom Jenkins, who runs SNARL, has been investigating the alleged cat killer for the past 6 years. He told the New Milton Advertiser & Lymington Times that Alley's death "bears all the hallmarks of their vile work" and claims the problem is larger than some may realize.

"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," he told the news outlet.

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

While there is no concrete evidence of the Croydon Cat Killer's existence, the Conservative MP for Carshalton and Wallington, Elliot Colburn, has previously called for the police investigation into the slayings to be reopened.

"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 as well," he told the House of Commons in October 2020.

"The pattern of behavior, particularly beheading the cat and leaving it there with no evidence of the cat being eaten, doesn't suggest to me that this was urban foxes, this suggests to me there is a systematic level of abuse going on here."

In the meantime, Blehs says there are "no words" to describe how she and her family have been left feeling following Alley's death.

"I still can't comprehend what has happened," she said. "I'm still in shock."

Newsweek has contacted SNARL, Natterjacks Vets and Dorset Police for comment.

Alley's death comes days after a firefighter in El Paso, Texas, turned himself into the authorities after being accused of deliberately leaving out poisoned cat food for animals in a local neighborhood.

In a slightly happier recent story, dozens of malnourished cats have been rescued from a hoarder in Colorado with as many as 39 felines saved.