Ritualistic killing of up to 50 cats and other animals in areas of south London has led residents to fear the perpetrator may start attacking people

Residents in a south London borough have joined forces to find the perpetrator of the “ritualistic” killing of up to 50 cats over fears he may attack humans next.

The so-called Cat Ripper of Croydon is suspected of killing and mutilating cats for the past two years, and local pet owners have been warned to keep their animals safely indoors. But those affected by the horrific killings fear the crimes will soon escalate.

“The community doesn’t want somebody running around killing animals because at some point they’re going to start killing people,” Boudicca Rising, co-founder of animal rescue charity South Norwood Animal and Rescue Liberty (Snarl), who began investigating the killings last year, said. “We’ve spoken to enough psychologists now to know this will scale up at some point. It’s likely the perpetrator is killing cats because he doesn’t have the courage to attack humans.”

Rising, who runs Snarl with her partner, Tony Jenkins, emphasised that for a lot of people cats are family. “It’s like having a child. The psychological impact is absolutely horrendous,” she said.

There are also fears that the killings extend beyond Croydon, with the bodies of cats being found in a variety of locations around London. Nick Jerome, whose eight-year-old tabby, Oscar, was found dead in Lambeth in November, said: “Apparently his head and tail had been removed and he was left in the street. I was horrified. I’d read about similar incidents in the paper, but it was happening miles from where I live so I never thought to keep the cat indoors.”

Other victims include Amber, a tortoiseshell cat that was found dumped in an alleyway without her head or tail near her home in Shirley, Croydon, and a ragdoll cross called Ukiyo, which was found deposited on a neighbour’s doorstep with his intestines missing.

Serial killers who reportedly attacked animals before moving on to humans include Ted Bundy, David Berkowitz, and Jeffrey Dahmer, who at a young age would dismember animals and store their body parts in jars in his family’s toolshed.

Rising and Jenkins have raised £5,000 through the website Gofundme in order to pay for forensic tests on the dead cats in a bid to help catch the killer. Of the total, £3,000 was in donations from members of the public, and the rest was a single donation from a businessman in Croydon. A petition urging the police to take urgent action has so far received more than 45,000 signatures.

“We’ve had nine postmortems done – they come in at about £500 each,” Rising said. They are awaiting the results. “The community response has been absolutely amazing, we’ve got 60 leafleteers who go out every day and target specific areas. We’ve got a whole army. We are also in daily contact with police, sometimes two, three times a day, as new information comes in. It took the police a little while, but once they realised what was going on, they’ve been fantastic.”

Sarah Hodge, who leads the team of volunteers, said the police would not have the resources to deal with the case without the community’s help. “I feel sick when I hear about the killings. This isn’t just a crime about cats, this person is seriously dangerous. People would say detectives should be hunting rapists and murderers, but that’s shortsighted. We’re really frightened about what he’s going to do next.”

Rising said all signs pointed to a serial killer, as in most of the cases the cat was decapitated, eviscerated or had its tail cut off. “I’m putting a spreadsheet together and we’ve got over 50 cats. We looked at just three yesterday, and they’re exactly the same. If an animal’s been in a road traffic accident, there’s a lot of blood and it’s very messy. These are all clean cuts, the bodies are laid out almost ritualistically.”

Jerome added: “If it’s been happening for years, it’s clearly someone who is disturbed and can’t stop. It’s a worry that they would go on to worse, which is why the police need to take it seriously, but even if they don’t, the killing of cats in itself is bad enough.”

The cat killer made headlines this week after the actor Martin Clunes wrote a letter to Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Metropolitan police commissioner, urging him to take the necessary measures to catch the culprit. The star, who went to school in Croydon, wrote: “This is the stuff of nightmares. The local community is understandably distraught and frightened. No one feels safe while this sick individual is on the loose. Research in psychology and criminology shows that people who commit acts of cruelty to animals don’t stop there – many of them move on to their fellow humans. That is a scary thought indeed.”

A host of other celebrities, including Caroline Flack, Dermot O’Leary and Josh Franceschi, lead vocalist of the band You Me at Six, have voiced their concern about the risk the killer poses to animals and the Croydon community. James McVey, of the band The Vamps, has offered gig tickets to anyone who shares information leading to the identification of the perpetrator. Peta is also offering a £5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

The RSPCA said it was working closely with the police to investigate the reports. A spokeswoman said: “We have been passed some bodies of cats and a series of tests will be carried out by specialist vets and forensic experts to see if we can find out what caused these deaths. It may take some weeks to have conclusive results.”



A spokeswoman for the Met said: “Police in Croydon are investigating a number of incidents relating to cat deaths in the local area. The number of incidents linked to the investigation at this stage is in single figures. Officers are also aware of a similar allegation in Surrey and are liaising with the relevant county force regarding this.”

Anyone with information is asked call police on 101, the RSPCA on 0300 123 8018, or Crimestoppers anonymously. Those who find an animal in the area that has been attacked can call Snarl on 07957 830490.