The owner of a cat which was found mutilated in Forest Hill last week said the sight of her pet’s body was like “something out of a horror movie”.

Buddy was discovered by a neighbour on the evening of Saturday, April 9, his body discarded in a bush near his owner’s home.

His owner, Sari Joseph, featured on the Victoria Derbyshire Show yesterday alongside Mike Butcher from the RSPCA and Tony Jenkins from the South Norwood Animal Rescue and Liberty (Snarl).

Ms Joseph described Buddy as an “extremely friendly” cat who went missing on Thursday, two days before his body was discovered.

She said: “By 6pm [on Saturday] we hadn’t heard anything.

“The doorbell rang, my son wasn’t at home but me and my husband were at home.

“My husband went to the door, it was our lovely next door neighbour and she unfortunately had seen a cat’s body in the bushes two doors away from her that looked like our Buddy.”

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Buddy the cat.

They called their son who was able to recognise that the cat was indeed their family pet Buddy.

“Quite horrific because the body, it was mutilated and the tail was missing, so my son just wrapped him, his body in plastic and put him in to the car” she said.

“He was just in bits. It was like something out of a horror movie, it doesn’t feel real at all.”

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Buddy’s body has been taken for examination, to determine whether his death is linked to the so called Cat Killer.

So far the RSPCA has linked 19 killings as part of its ongoing investigation with the police.

The spate of killings originally started in and around Croydon, but has since spread to wider parts of the capital – including south east London.

Just days before Buddy was killed, another cat was found beheaded and mutilated in Crest View Drive, Petts Wood.

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Merlin was found in Petts Wood.

RSPCA inspector Mr Butcher told the Victoria Derbyshire Show: “We need to catch this person as quickly as possible”.

He said the investigation was a difficult one for the animal charity, because they first have to identify whether each victim is linked to the spate of killings.

“The problem here is that it is a widespread issue. Is it the same person, is it copy cats…we have to try and work out exactly what the parameters are,” he said.

Mr Jenkins advised cat owners to keep their pets indoors, especially overnight when the majority of the killings have happened.

Asked whether he had any theories on who is behind the killings, he said: “Only that there’s a psychopath or few psychopaths out there who enjoy killing cats and mutilating them.”

Anyone with information is urged to call the RSPCA on 0300 123 8018 or DS Andy Collin from the Metropolitan Police on 0208 6490216.