These assassins earn hundreds of pounds a night shooting foxes in cities around the UK – then burn their bodies

AFTER night falls, a war on foxes rages in cities all over Britain.

The front lines are drawn through serene suburban gardens, empty school playgrounds and silent construction sites, where - under the cover of darkness - a handful of expert marksmen are deployed each evening.

For many, urban foxes are a menace and a pest, growing fat and brazen thanks to the abundance of discarded food they can easily snaffle from bins left outside homes and businesses.

As cubs they look cute and dog-like, but many of the predators end up bristling with disease and capable of maiming pets and people.

Jodie Nailard, 22, was savaged as she slept last week when a fox entered her London home via the open patio doors.

That's why licensed pest exterminators like Tom Keightley have taken up arms and started working as hired guns for homeowners who are willing to pay hundreds for their back-garden fox problem to be taken care of by the time they wake up.

The lone wolf taking on foxes

Tom, who is based in London, has 40 years of experience in the fox-shooting business, and he says his lethal - but legal - methods are the most humane way to deal with urban fox infestations.

Tom kills around six foxes in a typical night, and charges around £450 for a call-out fee, plus between £25 and £75 per fox killed - depending on the location.

He gets at least three calls a week from clients all over the UK.

"I get called for a number of reasons and one of the most popular ones is the concern about small children being attacked," Tom, 61 tells Sun Online.

"I seem to be getting more calls - and it's only increasing. I'm assuming that's because there are more foxes out there."

"Every shot is a head-shot. I don't shoot anywhere else on the body - even though I could kill them, they could run off elsewhere and may not die instantly," he says.

"There's a part of the brain called a Medulla Oblongata- it's the brain stem. The idea is to shoot at an angle that hits that and cuts their motor.

"Wherever possible, I shoot from a first-floor window in the house. There was an occasion when the lady didn't want me inside, so she made me sit in a Wendy house, which was a bit embarrassing."

Preparing to kill

Even cooped up in a playhouse, Tom would cut an intimidating figure.

You'll find him out on a job most nights, armed with his suppressed .22 rimfire rifle - the most popular kind of weapon among recreational shooters and small game hunters - which he carries around London in a nondescript brown tennis bag.

He prepares for a shoot by asking his client to smear dog food (supposedly a fox favourite) in their garden at the same place and at the same time, every night for six nights.

The prospect of a safe, easy and regular meal is enticing enough to trap any nearby foxes into a predictable routine, helping Tom outsmart his notoriously savvy prey.

Then, on the seventh night, he will be waiting in the house, his rifle loaded with bullets which punch effortlessly through fur and bone.

As the fox creeps into his line of fire, a muffled, barely audible shot from above will kill it.

It's estimated that over 100 fox assassins operate in London alone, with many more in other cities throughout the UK.

Bruce Lindsay Smith, 60, is one such marksman with over 40 years' experience, and the owner of a pest control business which takes out over 1,500 foxes a year.

His record is 33 kills in one night on a golf course, using the same lethal methods as Tom to deliver swift, silenced blows before the fox even knows what hit it.

Speaking to The Sun, he said: "There are more urban foxes around than I have ever known. People are struggling to cope — they are wrecking gardens, strewing rubbish everywhere and attacking pets.

"The kindest thing is to shoot them. They don’t know you are there, then are stone-dead.”

A growing menace

Rough estimations place the UK fox population at around 450,000, with as many as 150,000 of these living in cities, sustained mostly by food waste from restaurants and takeaways.

They make their dens in garden sheds or under decking, and are known for their nightmarish screeching noises - used to confirm their territory and communicate during mating season.

And many urban foxes carry parasites like ringworm, fleas, ticks and roundworm, which can be passed on to people or, more likely, pets through their faeces.

It's illegal to poison or relocate foxes, leaving Tom's controlled, deadly approach as one of the few ways fox populations can be thinned out without breaking the law.

He holds a licence for his gun, and always tips off police before a shoot, ensuring he won't end up in a sticky situation if a neighbour sees him brandishing a rifle in a suburban garden.

"I'm not required by law to do that but I think it's the right thing to do for safety - not least my own," he says. "Walking around London with a rifle, I could be set upon by armed police, so it saves a lot of hassle and a lot of undue attention."

Disposing of the carcasses

Tom calls time on most shoots in the early hours of the morning.

With permission, he then takes the bodies to a patch of Sussex farmland and burns them.

But with thousands of foxes in every British city, there's no way to make a real dent in their numbers - and there's always the risk that slain foxes in your garden will just be replaced by more.

"We can't help foxes coming into people's gardens - it's always going to happen," pest controller and military veteran Steve Barron tells Sun Online.

"Culling foxes doesn't work. However, removing individual foxes that have got over-familiar and are causing issues does work.

"When a fox is over-familiar with a school, home or construction site, the only way to deal with it is to target the individual foxes that are causing an issue. There's no physical threat from repellents so they'll just ignore it.

"Shooting is instantaneous with minimal stress, provided checks are carried out on a regular basis. It's safer and more humane.

"It's always done as a last resort when we can't stop them from coming in to gardens by addressing the waste management system or carrying out meshing improvements to physically keep them out."

Steve has worked as a fox controller since 2002, and he says business has been steady the whole time.

He reckons the best way to deal with a back-garden fox infestation is by cutting off their food supply - by keeping bins indoors - or by meshing up your garden so it's impossible for a fox to enter.

"Foxes are extremely athletic," he says. "They can easily scale a six-foot fence, and if it's not going over it can go under.