Our beloved cat was stolen from Rockbourne Road today. He was taken at 13:11 (11th December) by a man (red baseball hat and dark jacket) and woman (wearing a white puffer jacket), strangely the man is carrying a huge toy lion under his arm. We have CCTV footage. They pick up him up and walk up the street with him.
Our cat is very elderly and frail, and doesn’t go far from home these days so will have been very frightened.
Our cat in a medium sized, short haired ginger Tom, no collar (he won’t wear one) but chipped and very much loved.
Please message urgently if you have seen anything.
Thank you
Amy and David
Amy: what an awful thing. So sorry. Have you shared the CCTV footage with the police? Were the couple on your property or on the pavement? If they came on your proprety I don’t see why you can’t share the footage on here. But the moderators could advise.
Rishi: Did they have the toy lion at the bus stop? If not maybe they were at a children’s party nearby.
That would really narrow down the search as it’s such a tight area to cover. Maybe put up some posters? Or involve any local Neighbourhood Watch groups.
Personally I would first report this to the police and give them a copy of the footage. It’s possible that the couple are already known to police or have done this before or even again, for example.
If that doesn’t go anywhere, then I would consider sharing the footage or stills in order to further the investigation.
If you want to go public with the imsge, maybe one way to handle it is to put up a poster of an image your cat captured by CCTV that “happens” to include the couple with the cat in their arms. If you use the word “missing” rather than “stolen” it’s up to others to interpret. I think local posters are the way to go, whether or not at this stage you think about including or mentioning the CCTV footage or just a photo of your cat. From what’s been said so far it sounds as if they may have given him to some local child.
Maybe even consider saying “No questions asked for speedy, safe return”?
Thanks everyone, I’ve been to the Police; they have reported it but can’t act as there is no clear face views on CCTV. They have passed to the neighbourhood team, and advised me to go to shops etc for CCTV which I’m doing shortly, as well as posters. The local vets know and I am going to record him as stolen on the cat chip company. Thanks everyone.
