The Croydon cat killer is one of the most recognizable crime stories of the past few years. The case was closed in September after the Met police announced that all leads have been thoroughly reviewed and concluded that the deaths of over 400 cats were in fact traffic accidents.
The metropolitan police investigated over 400 reports of strange cat deaths after many owners were concerned that there’s a cat serial killer on the prowl. The Met police disappointed many by concluding that there was no serial killer at all. Most of the cases were closed as traffic accidents, while the mutilations were probably done by foxes. According to some cat owners, the police closed the case due to lack of evidence, which means that the killer is probably still at large.
In response to BuzzFeed News inquiries about operation Takahe, the Met police released a report that said that police officers logged more than 2,250 hours investigating the case between 2016 and 2018. The operation cost the police over £130,000, with £6,000 alone spent on postmortem examinations. Microscopic hair testing and other expenses raised the number as well.
The operation was spearheaded by four officers based in Croydon in January 2018 up until March the same year. Previously, as many as 15 officers were included in the case. Even though the police answered BuzzFeed’s inquiry, it only did so after missing the first FOIA deadline. They claimed that the delay was due to the inability to give accurate account of the operation.
According to one former detective, the number of hours dedicated to the Croydon cat killer case was around the same hours spent on a series of armed robberies. In short, the Met police weren’t kidding around. Still, some cat owners are not satisfied with the conclusion. According to some people, cat owners have been connecting the wrong dots all along, but who can blame the owners? After all, they did lose their precious pets and are determined to try and get the case up and running once again.
