A family has been branded "cat-killers" by neighbours because dead pets keep turning up in their garden.

Dave and Remy Power have been confronted by an angry mob and are now scared to leave their home.

Mr Power, 45, woke to find his Ford Mondeo had been covered in paint-stripper after he made the latest discovery this week.

He said his wife and daughter have been threatened by neighbours who are convinced he is behind the deaths.

He said: "I love animals. We keep birds and have a dog but people say I killed the cats. I'd never harm an animal, especially if it was someone's pet."

Mr Power had lived happily in Goodwood Way, Moulsecoomb, Brighton, with his wife and daughter Kerrie, 13, for three years when the first dead cat turned up.

He said: "I found the ginger cat under my gazebo. It looked like it had been poisoned."

He told a neighbour who recognised the cat and said its owner's previous pet had died not long before.

Mr Power said: "The next night the owner came to my house in tears. She said she'd been told I'd killed it and put it in the bin. I explained what had really happened and she was upset but seemed to take it on the chin."

Since then gossip has spread and Mr Powers has been verbally abused and police have been called in.

The RSPCA carried out a post-mortem which revealed the first cat had not been poisoned or injured.

Mr Power said: "Everything seemed to die down but then this week I found another one. It was just two feet away from where I found the first. I was traumatised.

"I thought it must have been planted there by someone but who would do something like that?"

He called the RSPCA and the police. As the RSPCA inspector began knocking on doors to find the owner a large crowd gathered outside Mr Power's house.

He said: "We went to take the dog out and when we returned home there was a big group of people on the pavement."

Another row broke out and police were called who advised the Powers to stay indoors.

A city council spokesman said: "Neighbourhood disputes of this nature create a miserable atmosphere for everyone concerned and we want the situation to improve."