On the 23rd of October Elliot Colburn,  conservative MP for Carshalton and Wallington, said that he believes the ruling of urban foxes as the Croydon cat killer of 2016 is ‘fanciful’. Colburn thinks the case should be reopened. This happened during a parliamentary speech showing support of Chris Loder’s animal protection sentencing bill. This bill would make animal welfare related sentences as long as 5 years long. This was sparked after the killing and mutilation of cat ‘Reggie’ in the Croydon area. It followed the same types of harm and there are fears that this could be the killer back again. SNARL (South Norwood Animal Rescue and Liberty) have ruled this and the killing of ‘Marly’ in late July as human inflicted as they follow the same patterns as other proven human killings and are in line with the habits of the Croydon killer.

The Croydon cat killer started their awful killings back in 2014 around the Croydon area but killings spread as far as Richmond. The met police officially opened their investigation into the killings in early 2015 and around 2,250 police hours were dedicated to the case however it is believed that police were not looking in the right places. During the time of investigation the cat killer was recorded to have killed and mutilated over 500 cats according to the metropolitan police. Despite this surge, the metropolitan police decided that the culprit was urban foxes. This led to outrage among the victims and some cynics say this was due to budget exhaustion. Deaths continued in smaller numbers after the case was closed in 2017.

The metropolitan police have not officially responded to Elliot Colburn’s call for a reopening or review but it is thought that for them to reopen the case would require more work hours than before as they would have to look over evidence once again and some say it could cost upwards of £130,000. SNARL are the main group of investigators outside of the met police. They are the leading authority and are still to this day diligently investigating the case. The body of ‘Jekyll’ was found on Monday the 5th of October according to SNARL and on Tuesday the 28th of October was confirmed by a vet as a human killing. SNARL quoted ‘Our advice remains to keep cats in at night where possible and ensure that outdoor hutches are securely padlocked and gardens as secure as they possibly can be.’