Siobhan Lee captures CCTV images of alleged catnapping

When Oscar the cat did not come home, his owner Siobhan Lee, 34, checked the security cameras she has at her home in Mile End, Colchester, to see if she could spot him.

To her horror, the video shows a man pulling up outside their house, on the Northfield Estate, off Turner Road, getting out and calling the cat over.

She claims he then picks him up and passes him to someone sitting in the back of the car.

Oscar belongs to Ms Lee’s daughter Keira, nine.

Ms Lee said: “I was just completely gobsmacked.

“I simply couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

“My daughter is devastated. She cried her eyes out.

“She keeps asking questions. She’s asking if he’s coming back. She’s worried what they are going to do to him.”

Ms Lee, 34, last saw Oscar at about 9.30am on Sunday and believes he was taken an hour later. She first became worried when he did not come home at 5pm for his tea.

She went out and called him, but he still did not appear, so she decided to check the CCTV footage. Ms Lee describes the man as in his late forties or early fifties and was wearing khaki trousers, an orange T-shirt and sandals.

The woman in the front seat had shoulder length brown hair.

Ms Lee does not believe they are the only people to have been targeted. She said: “I’m adamant I can see another cat in the back.

There have been a lot of cats around here going missing.”

The family got Oscar, who is 19, two years ago after his former owner migrated to Australia.

A spokesman for Essex Police said: “Police in Colchester are investigating the theft of a cat outside an address in Stanford Road. It was reported a purple Volvo estate pulled up outside the address at around 10.30am on Sunday, August 16. The driver picked up the cat, placed it in the vehicle and drove away.”

Anyone with information should call 101.