Who is the Croydon Cat Killer, who do the police say was the killer and where and how many pets in London have been killed?

THE Croydon Cat Killer was believed to have slaughtered and carefully decapitated hundreds of pet cats across London and the South East.

Police hunting the "psychopath" serial killer feared they could go on to target humans — but after years of investigating experts came to a bombshell conclusion. Here's the latest.

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When did the Croydon Cat Killer myth begin?

Despite earlier reports, an apparent pet murder spree began in Croydon, South London in October 2015.

Dubbed the 'Croydon Cat Killer', the monster was initially believed to lure victims with food before bludgeoning them to death and then dissects them with a sharp knife.

Other similar cat killers were later identified across London and the South East — and even as far away as Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham and the Isle of Wight.

Some experts believed the perpetrator could be carrying out pet murders for sexual gratification.

Many of the corpses were found spread-eagled beneath their owners' bedroom windows.

Tony Jenkins, co-fonder of the South Norwood Animal Rescue and Liberty charity (SNARL) 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 them with blunt force trauma, waits for half an hour for the blood to stop circulating then cuts their heads off."

Many of the decapitations appeared to be "surgical" and the cats were butchered in similar ways up and down the country.

A £10,000 reward was offered to anyone who had information that could lead to the arrest of a killer.

Police trying to trace a suspect feared they could grow bored of torturing animals and could escalate to young women and girls.

How many pets were said to have been killed?

It is not known exactly how many cats were linked to the 'killer', but more than 400 slaughtered pets were reported between October 2015 and last year.

SNARL, who led a hunt for the killer, said they had 31 cases confirmed by post-mortem in June 2016.

And they said they had around 90 more bearing the hallmarks of the same killer.

In August 2016 five moggies were found chopped up around the M25 area.

On January 22 in 2017 it was reported two more cats had been killed with within two hours.

Over the Easter weekend last year another cat was beheaded and left in its owner's garden in Surrey.

Then in October pet moggie Taz disappeared before being found dead with multiple wounds.

What is SNARL?

SNARL stands for South Norwood Animal Rescue Liberty.

The group was the driving force behind a campaign to catch the 'killer' and its Facebook page contains daily updates and tributes to alleged victims.

Members worked with police and vets looking into the spate of deaths — and raised money for forensic post-mortems.

Boudicca Rising, 46, founded the group with her partner Tony Jenkins, 43.

They travelled the country collecting bodies and meeting distraught pet owners.

Boudicca said at the height of the alleged murder spree: "We aren't stopping until we catch him. I can't bear it.

"We have to catch him. We can get ten or 20 phone calls a day."

Tony said: “People need to understand the horror of someone who has opened their bedroom curtains in the morning, looked down and seen their beautiful cat without its head or tail.

"Whoever is responsible is a psychopath."

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What locations have cats been killed in?

The first known victim was a tortoiseshell tabby named Amber, found cut up in woodland in Shirley, near Croydon.

Similar killings took place in nearby Kingston, Guildford, and Richmond.

Butchered were also found in Finchley and Tottenham in North London — fuelling speculation the 'killer' was targeting new areas.

Dead cats found in Coventry, West Mids, and Cinderford, Glous, added to rumours that a cat killer was sweeping across the country.

The spread of killings also led to fears that copycat murderers could be on the loose.

Cops were convinced the killings could be the work of one man who was probably abused as a child and known to authorities.

What have police investigating the Croydon Cat Killer found?

In September 2018, nearly three years after the investigation began, police concluded there was no evidence of a human killer.

Instead, cops and experts revealed that they believe the spate of deaths were the result of scavenging animals like foxes attacking cats.

They pointed to post-mortems funded by SNARL that found some cats died from blunt force trauma before being decapitated.

This was read by some as evidence of a killer bludgeoning the cats before butchering them.

But experts also concluded that these injuries could have been the result of a road traffic collisions.

Foxes and other scavenging animals would then attack the cats remains.

Experts say that foxes often target the heads and tails of roadkill — which gives the impression that they had been carefully mutilated.

A statement from Scotland Yard said: "No evidence of human involvement was found in any of the reported cases.

"There were no witnesses, no identifiable patterns and no forensic leads that pointed to human involvement.

"Witness statements were taken, but no suspect was identified.

"In three instances where CCTV was obtained, footage showed foxes carrying bodies or body-parts of cats."

Frontline Policing Commander Amanda Pearson said: “On average, the Met receives over 1,000 calls each month relating to animals and animal welfare.

“We understand the reason for this - people trust the police to help them when they suspect others have done wrong, fear for their own safety or simply are facing situations that they are unable to handle themselves.

“We will always assist the public in an emergency, but I would urge people to report concerns relating to animal welfare in the first instance to the RSPCA.

“The decision was made to allocate a large number of similar reports of mutilated cats to the officers who were investigating the initial spate of such allegations.

"In particular, they were following up the six suspicious cases identified by the post-mortem examinations.

“While this increased the workload of those officers, it significantly reduced the resources that would have been required for different officers in different units to record and assess each allegation separately.

“It is this collating of reports that enabled officers to work with experts and reach the conclusion that no further police investigations are required into any of the allegations relating to mutilated cats.”

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