POLICE are investigating the possibility of a cat-napper at large in a County Durham village.

After mentioning to neighbours that one of her cats had gone missing, internationally-acclaimed glass artist Maralyn O'Keefe heard that other cats in the area were also missing.

She made up a poster asking for information, which she distributed to homes across the village of Lanchester, in County Durham.

She discovered that eight cats had gone missing from her two neighbouring streets in the past five years.

Police are investigating the matter and have been asking residents at Ashleigh Grove and Mount Park Drive for information.

Mrs O'Keefe said she had resigned herself to the fact that her cat, Suki, was dead, but she wanted to know what had happened to her.

She said: "I asked a few people about it and it emerged that another two cats had disappeared in the immediate vicinity.

"That's when we decided to try and find out more and leafleted the whole area asking if there was some sort of cat-napper about.

"Even before we got back we were getting calls, but they were only from these two streets, so I passed the matter on to the police.

"It may come to nothing, but it's certainly very strange."

Village beat police officer PC Mel Armstrong said police were aware of the matter and were making investigations.