Modern Mysteries

'Croydon cat killer' mystery has been solved

By T.K. Randall
September 20, 2018

Image: Domestic Cat
Credit: Lau20fe / CC BY-SA 4.0 (adapted) The alarm was first raised about the so-called 'Croydon cat killer' back in 2015 when residents in the South London borough started finding the mutilated bodies of pet cats in the area.

A later post-mortem of the bodies suggested that at least 25 of the felines had been killed by people and 6 others had died under suspicious circumstances.

Hundreds more cases turned up over the following months, leaving investigators struggling to determine who or what might be responsible.

Now though, 3 years on from the opening of the case, the Metropolitan Police has revealed that there never actually was a Croydon cat killer at all. Instead, investigators have attributed the cat deaths to attacks by foxes, road accidents and other mundane things."No evidence of human involvement was found in any of the reported cases," the Met stated. "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."

The mutilated nature of the remains has been attributed to scavenging animals.

"Officers also took note of expert opinion - including a recent, widely reported New Scientist article - which highlights how wildlife is known to scavenge on roadkill, often removing the heads and tails of dead animals," the police said.

In addition, the earlier findings about human involvement seem to have been thrown out.

"Additional forensic tests were carried out, and these did not show any clear difference between marks on the bodies of cats that had been scavenged and the cats whose mutilations had been deemed suspicious," the Met said.

Source: Independent

Tags: Cat, Police, London