“The fear that there's somebody out there with a knife that's willing to use it. Who's next? Is it going to be a cat? Is it going to be a person?” Mike Ashcroft, Detective Chief Inspector, Sussex Police
How To Catch a Cat Killer tells the horrifying story of Steven Bouquet, dubbed ‘the Brighton cat killer’.
Steven killed nine cats and violently injured seven others, torturing the local community with his savage acts of violence.
This documentary tells the incredible story of how that community came together - And how they made a remarkable discovery that gave detectives the breakthrough they needed. The film features extraordinary behind the scenes footage and police interviews as investigators began to unmask the Brighton Cat Killer.
Brighton residents refused to let the killer get away with these attacks and began to investigate themselves what was happening and who was responsible.
Those directly involved in the crimes, including those that had their cats injured or killed, tell How to Catch a Cat Killer the extent of their torment at the hands of Steve Bouquet.
Members of the local community, such as Wendy, decided they needed to take actions into their own hands.
She said: “We were plotting maps, we marked off the perimeter these attacks were happening in and around there. I thought we need to catch him before he takes it to the next level.”
As the violence of the attacks escalated, CCTV footage captured Steven stabbing one local cat, leading to his arrest.
Disturbing evidence was found by police on Steven Bouquet’s laptop once he was arrested and called in for questioning.
Chris Thompson, Detective Inspector, Sussex Police, said: “We found some real concerning things, links to videos with the title of like, 'dog kills cats' and 'cat gets killed’. He watched these videos at one or two in the morning and during the course of that period another cat was killed. Almost as if that was him sort of invigorating himself to go and do something else.”
Chilling police custody footage shows Steven Bouquet’s calculating and cold demeanour as he vehemently denies any wrongdoing.
The programme also investigates the spate of vicious cat murders in Croydon, South London.