Police join hunt as killer adds seventh cat to poison death list

The Bell family has lost seven cats on or around Halloween, all of them poisoned by an unknown assailant.

In total, the family has lost nine cats during the past five years.

They say seven of the animals went missing or were found dead on or soon after October 31 - but that the killer now appears to be targeting their pets at random.

The family's last two cats were found poisoned last week, and Pauline Bell fears someone is targeting them, using slug pellets as poison.

Her three daughters have also found four of their pet rabbits poisoned and have been left devastated by the killings.

Mrs Bell, of The Fallows, Cockfield, County Durham, said she, too, had been left traumatised by the poisonings.

The 32-year-old said: "I've always had cats. My parents loved them and my daughters adore them, but someone is poisoning them for some sick reason.

"The RSPCA has carried out tests on the bodies of six of my cats and all have been found with traces of Aldicarp in their stomachs, which is a poison used on slugs.

"The frightening thing is that traces of carrot and potato have been found in their stomachs, and I never feed them vegetables, so someone must be putting the poison on to the vegetables and feeding it to them.

"We dread Halloween, because that is when our cats are found dead. We love them and it's tearing us apart that someone would want to kill them."

Mrs Bell's first cat, Simba, died of poisoning just hours after it was shot with an air gun.

And two of the family's cats were found dead on the same day.

Mrs Bell said that neighbours with cats had not suffered the same problems.

A spokesman for Durham Police said: "We received information that a householder in Cockfield believes that two of her pets have been poisoned.

"The RSPCA has been informed and are also investigating, as well as specialists from a poisons unit.

"If a crime is uncovered as a result of the examination of the cats, then we will obviously investigate."