Southampton mutilated cat death 'linked to Croydon cat killer'

(From left) Bertie from Surrey, Missy from Croydon, Ukiyo from south London, and Orly from Fareham, Hampshire, are four of the cats which have been killed

The death of a cat found decapitated is being linked to a series of other cat killings in England, an animal rescue centre has said.

South Norwood Animal Rescue and Liberty (Snarl) said the mutilated feline, found in the Itchen area of Southampton on 6 June, was not chipped and had not yet been identified.

The charity has suggested a single culprit is behind 350 cat killings it has investigated.

Police said they are not investigating.

'No blood'

Snarl, which has been examining cat deaths thought to be linked to the infamous serial feline killer since 2015, said it had found a total of 500 animals, including foxes and rabbits, which had been mutilated in a similar way.

"The majority of them are decapitations of heads, tails and paws - a few of them have been cut in half," Tony Jenkins, from the rescue centre, said.

"Typically there is no blood on the scene, so they are either killed somewhere else and then brought to the scene, or they are killed quickly with blunt force trauma and mutilated afterwards, which we have seen in many cases."

He added there had been previous cat mutilations in Hampshire, including Southampton and Fareham.

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Other areas include London - where the killings are suspected to have started - Manchester, Surrey, Berkshire and Birmingham.

Hampshire Constabulary said: "There are no viable lines of enquiry at this time to progress a police investigation, so this has been filed pending any new or additional information coming to light."