THE trial of the man alleged to be the Brighton Cat Killer continues.

Shopping mall security guard Steve Bouquet is accused of killing nine cats and injuring seven more during a lengthy and gruesome spree in the city.

Bouquet denies all charges.

Security guard killed nine cats in spree that stumped detectives, court told

Detectives received more and more reports of beloved pets being seriously injured or killed in suspicious circumstances in 2018 and 2019 but nobody was caught in the act.

A breakthrough in the gruesome mystery came when a CCTV system set up by an owner of a slain cat appeared to capture a fresh attack on camera, a court heard.

Steve Bouquet, 54, from Brighton, East Sussex, previously pleaded not guilty to 16 counts of criminal damage in relation to cats and one count of possession of a knife.

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The shopping mall security guard did not appear at Chichester Crown Court on Tuesday and the trial has gone ahead in his absence.

Prosecutor Rowan Jenkins told jurors: “In 2018 Sussex Police commenced what became a major investigation following reports of domestic cats being targeted and deliberately stabbed in Brighton.

“Sometimes owners … found that their cats were still alive and were able to take timely action to try and save them by rushing them to their vets.”

However, nine cats received injuries so serious that they could not be saved, the court heard.

Mr Jenkins added: “By targeting pets, whoever was responsible was not of course just causing suffering for the animals themselves, you can imagine the actions caused understandable trauma to owners many of whom were greatly affected both emotionally and, secondarily perhaps, financially.”

He said the wounds were “penetrative and clean”, and caused by a sharp article such as a knife.

The attacks went on for several months between October 2018 and June 2019, with police unable to identify a suspect.

“Nobody was ever caught in the act so this went on for quite a while,” Mr Jenkins said.

On May 31, 2019, Stewart Montgomery and his partner Agatha were at home when their nine-month-old black kitten Hendrix came in bleeding heavily.

They rushed him to the vet but the injury – a single knife wound driven right through from side to side – was too severe and he did not survive.

When he got home, Mr Montgomery noticed a trail of blood and saw a CCTV camera nearby.

The camera had in fact been set up by a neighbour whose cat had been stabbed and killed the year before, the court heard.

Footage was obtained that appears to show Bouquet stroking a cat and taking something from his rucksack before making a “sudden jerk” with his arm, the prosecutor said.

“This is the moment we say that the defendant stabs Hendrix with some force,” Mr Jenkins said.

After Bouquet was arrested on June 2, 2019, officers searched his house and found a knife in the kitchen area.

Scientific inquiries found his DNA on the handle and domestic cat DNA was found on the blade, the court heard.

Cat owners found pets injured on their doorsteps after attacks, court hears

A number of “shocked” cat owners found their beloved pets bleeding on their doorsteps during a spree of attacks in Brighton, a court has heard.

One woman said: “I immediately thought it was a stab wound”.

She described how blood “splurted out” from her 11-year-old cat Gideon, who would later recover from his injury.

On Wednesday, jurors at Chichester Crown Court were told how owners of several cats realised their pets had been injured.

Carolyn Green found her short-haired tabby cat Tommy lying on her doorstep, clearly injured, after only being let out about 15 minutes before.

“I picked Tommy up and noticed blood on my T-shirt,” Ms Green said in a statement read out by the prosecution, describing how she then took him to the vet for treatment.

“The vet called and reported that Tommy had been stabbed – I was shocked.”

Tommy had suffered a 4cm cut, the vet discovered, and did not survive his injury.

Penny Vessey told the court that her fluffy black and white cat Rigby was “always incredibly friendly” and liked to lie outside the house so people could stroke her.

But all of that behaviour stopped after Rigby was injured on Halloween night in 2018, she said.

The area had been busy with trick or treaters and Ms Vessey found Rigby the next morning making a mewing sound and not acting like herself.

While Rigby made a physical recovery from her injury, Ms Vessey said it was not until very recently that she has started engaging with people again.

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In a statement read out in court, Tina Randall described the moment she discovered that her 11-year-old cat Gideon had been injured in November 2018.

“He was fading and as I picked him up, blood splurted out.

“I immediately thought it was a stab wound.”

Gideon eventually recovered from the three-quarter inch wound, she told the court, and vet’s bills for his surgery came to more than £1,600.

Accused cat killer told police he was ‘no threat to animals’

Steve Bouquet spoke to detectives about how cats “have always been friendly”, and how he would stroke them while out and about in the city, Chichester Crown Court heard.

On Friday, jurors were shown a series of images found on his phone showing live cats in various spots around Brighton.

The jury was spared having to look at another picture discovered on Bouquet’s phone, which showed a dead cat called Kyo that had belonged to a professor.

Kyo is one of the nine cats Bouquet is accused of killing, along with Hendrix, Tommy, Hannah, Alan, Nancy, Gizmo, Ollie and Cosmo.

The image had been shared with police investigating the string of cat attacks but had also been published in a local newspaper, the court heard.

Another cat pictured on Bouquet’s phone was short-haired tabby Tommy, who was discovered bleeding on his owner Scott Rankin’s doorstep in November 2018.

Tommy had only been let out for about 15 minutes but suffered a 4cm cut and did not survive his injury, the court heard previously.

In a statement read out in court, Mr Rankin said he was emailed a picture of a cat by a detective and asked to identify it.

“I knew immediately it was Tommy I recognised him due to the large white patch on his chest,” he said.

In his police interview which was read out in court, Bouquet told officers that all he knew about the cat killings was what he had read in the newspapers and online.

“I have heard various reports of people wandering around at night with a machete,” he told officers.

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“Someone’s going around with a machete. If I see him harming a cat and I try to intervene it could be my head that gets rolled.”

Bouquet’s tenancy meant he was not allowed to have pets in his basement flat but would see cats as he walked through the city, he said.

One officer asked him: “Do you like cats?”

He replied: “Yeah. Yeah, always, they have always been friendly, like, and I am sort of no threat to animals.

“They come up to me, I give them a stroke and I send them on their way.

“I have no issues with cats, dogs or anything like that.”

'CCTV shows moment cat is attacked'

Police made a breakthrough in the case when CCTV picked up Mr Bouquet interacting with a cat called Hendrix, the jury was told.

Rowan Jenkins for the Crown told the jury: "In the early evening of 31st May 2019, Stewart Montgomery and his partner Agatha Altwegg were at home in Brighton.

"At around 7.50pm their nine month old black shorthair with white chest patch called Hendrix, came running in.

"At first Miss Altweg thought nothing of it, but she then saw blood where he had been sitting and when she looked closer she found he was bleeding heavily."

Hendrix could not be saved and the vet who treated him said she had never seen a case like it, Mr Jenkins said.

"In her opinion, this was, in fact, a single wound with a blade penetrating from the left side through to the right - driven straight through."

Speaking of the CCTV, Mr Jenkins said: "He appears to show affection to the cat by stroking it.

The Argus: CCTV shown to the court in 'cat killer' trial

"Facing sideways, he seems to take something from his rucksack.

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"As the cat lies down in front of him, you will see there is then a sudden jerk from the defendant’s arm.

"This is the moment we say when the defendant stabs Hendrix with some force. Immediately, he reacts by getting to his feet and fleeing to his home.

"The defendant is seen to rearrange his rucksack and continues to walk North," Mr Jenkins said.

The trial continues.