Fears M25 cat killer has struck again after pet found dismembered with its head missing
Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
The M25 Cat Ripper is feared to have struck again after a woman caring for a beloved pet cat while its owners went away for Easter found its dismembered corpse.
She found the cat lying dead in the garden - his head had been sliced off and its remains were 'ritualistically' laid out on the lawn of the house in Redhill, Surrey.
Experts say the maniac may be planning more attacks - and it's feared people may be on the hit list too.
The cat killing spree which began in 2015 has claimed more than 200 feline victims so far, mostly around the M25 corridor .
Tony Jenkins, co-founder of Snarl (South Norwood Animal Rescue and Liberty), a south London group set up to help police catch the killer, said "It was very upsetting and distressing for the cat sitter to make such an awful discovery.
(Photo: WESSEX NEWS AGENCY)
"This was a very secure property but the person probably gained access to the back garden by getting over a padlocked gate.
"He struck the cat with a blunt instrument and then waited with it for half an hour or so before removing its head, which has not been found.
Has 'Croydon cat ripper' struck again? Mutilated moggy sparks fear abuser is attacking pets across London
"He waits for about half an hour before mutilating the animals so there will not be a lot of blood at the scene. It is his sick modus operandi."
In January the headless corpses of two more cats were found within 24 hours of each other in the Surrey stockbroker belt - in Godalming and Redhill.
Mr Jenkins said police have warned the killer shows the classic signs of a deranged psycho who might even be doing it for sexual kicks.
Just like Jack the Ripper , who used physician-like skills to rip apart his women victims, the cat hater 'surgically' dismembers some pets.
(Photo: WESSEX NEWS AGENCY)
Many blood-splattered headless corpses have been spread-eagled beneath the owners' bedroom windows for them to stumble on horrifically the next morning.
Mr Jenkins, who's assuming at this stage the killer is male and not female,
said "We think he gets off on putting the animals on display, preferably under the bedroom windows.
"Worryingly, we've even had a few put next to school playgrounds where little children would be.
"It looks like he kills the cats with blunt force trauma, waits for half an hour for the blood to stop circulating then cuts their heads off."
Many of the cuts are 'surgical' but some are 'more rushed' and it is possible that the killer has even performed some of the beheadings in the owners' gardens or on the patio.
"We started our investigation in September 2015. Since then we've collected about 180 bodies, all with similar wounds.
(Photo: WESSEX NEWS AGENCY)
"Their head or tail is cut off - in some cases both.
"Some have had their front paws or back paws cut off, some have literally been cut in half.
"After we got half a dozen bodies, the police said 'We have a serial animal killer'.
"People who do this to animals may move on to humans. They took it seriously."
Police are in a desperate race to catch the moggy maniac before he strikes again, bringing misery and heartbreak to yet more cat-owning families.
They think the psycho has been killing cats three or four times a week for at least three years, so will have murdered countless moggies.
Mr Jenkins said vets who had examined the corpses found they were all killed the same way.
"They were killed with blunt force trauma and then cut up and mutilated with a knife - unless there's any animal you know that can handle a knife, it's a human."
(Photo: WESSEX NEWS AGENCY)
He said it's unlikely a fox would attack a live, healthy cat and that if it came across a dead cat, it would focus on its stomach, not the head, tail or paws.
"Foxes don't attack live cats. It's a myth" he said.
Due to the sheer number of mutilated cats that have been discovered since 2015, any bodies or body parts with the same recognisable injuries - a clean wound made by a bladed object - are being stored until a suspect is arrested.
Some foxes have also been targeted in a similar manner, Mr Jenkins revealed.
"Two foxes have been found beheaded and with injuries that exactly match the cats, one in Croydon, another in Bromley.
"It is very typical to have no blood on the scene."
Boudicca Rising, co-founder of Snarl, said "When we see injuries that are familiar we can say that is most likely to be connected to the previous finds."
The Metropolitan Police began investigating the killings in November 2015, under the name Operation Takahe.
The probe began after headless cats were found in Croydon, Streatham, Mitcham Common, Sutton, Charlton, Peckham and Finchley.
Has 'Croydon Cat Killer' struck again? Two headless pets found on same day
(Photo: WESSEX NEWS AGENCY)
A vet found raw chicken in the stomachs of a number of the cats, suggesting the killer was luring them to their deaths with meat titbits.
The RSPCA believes they were killed by blunt trauma, possibly from a moving vehicle but SNARL said some may have been thrown against a wall.
It's thought the psycho cuts off the heads and tails to retain as grisly 'trophies'.
More than 30,000 disgusted residents signed a petition demanding DNA testing on the corpses in the hope of getting a match but so far no human DNA has been recovered.
Other deaths have been reported in Maidstone and Sevenoaks, and Doc Martin actor Martin Clunes used social media begging people to help catch the killer.
In an email to Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the actor said "As someone who shares my home with several four-legged companions I read with horror that some of the cats had been decapitated, disembowelled or dismembered - this is the stuff of nightmares."