An airgun sniper has killed a family's pet cat and peppered another with pellets.

Mother-of-three Victoria Franklin, 32, has paid a small fortune in vets' bills and is now offering a reward to help track down those responsible.

Tom cat Jester, three, was shot in his side on Good Friday and Mrs Franklin told how she was forced to watch him die in agony when vets were unable to save him.

The Franklins' other cat Kiarah, Jester's sister, has also been shot five times in the past year, one passing through her ear and another shattering her knee cap.

The family has paid more than £1,600 to nurse Kiarah back to health.

Mrs Franklin now locks Kiarah in a specially built cage to keep her from being harmed.

She said: "When Kiarah was shot she would not come home until daylight, with Jester it was 8pm and he came straight up to the back door.

"You could tell something was wrong by the way he was walking. He came in and collapsed.

"I was absolutely devastated. He died in my arms."

Mrs Franklin's children Megan, four, Thomas, six, and Amy, 12, were all upset by his death and Kiarah, whose hind knee cap had to be threaded together with wire after it was shattered, has been pining.

The cats were both Bengal, with dark orange and black stripes.

Mrs Franklin, of Birkdale Close, Worthing, said: "We've only lived here for 12 months and the attacks have been going on all that time. I cannot see them being personal because we don't know anybody.

"It's barbaric, I can't think of any other way to describe causing that much pain to a living creature.

"It was such a horrific death, how can I let Kiarah out when next time it could be her getting shot in the tummy?"

Police believe youths shot Jester and there have been six reports of an air rifle being used in nearby Pond Lane Park during the past year.

Officers are making inquiries, have spoken to youths and stepped up patrols in the area.

PC Jenny Jelliss said: "I have spoken to the owner, who is obviously very upset. We will continue to have high visibility patrols in the area in an effort to prevent this happening again and to find the offenders."

Anyone with information can call Sussex Police on 0845 6070999.