Owner of beheaded cat sets up appeal for charity which helped family

Poppy the cat, who was found beheaded in Southsea

Poppy was well-known and loved around the Marmion Road area of Southsea and the community was left stunned after she was found dead on Easter Monday.

Her death was linked by police last week to the notorious M25 cat killer, who is believed to be responsible for the deaths of over 200 cats.

Owner Lowri Sparkes was left devastated by the discovery, but was given extensive support by charity South Norwood Animal Rescue Liberty (Snarl) during the aftermath of the horrific incident.

Now Ms Sparkes is raising funds for the charity – which is working with various police forces on the investigation into the killer.

She said: ‘They have been absolutely amazing with us and provided so much comfort and support.

‘They were called down on the day when Poppy’s body was found and we found out what happened through them.

‘We were told face to face and they made the difference at a very sad time for us. It would have been tougher if we got the news from the police.’

The group has been working closely with the Metropolitan Police and its Operation Takahe – which began in 2014.

Boudicca Rising and Tony Jenkins of the charity drove down from Croydon on the day Poppy was found to investigate the death and have been in contact with the Sparkes family on almost a daily basis since the incident.

To thank the charity for its ongoing support, Ms Sparkes has set up a fundraising appeal on Just Giving to help raise £3,000 – a figure which would cover the charity’s operations for a month.

She added: ‘A lot of people think that I’m angry about it all, but I’m really just hurt  and saddened by what happened.

‘What I would not want now is for it to escalate to people, so the charity needs our help in the investigation to catch this person.’

Ms Sparkes added that the family had felt an outpouring of emotion from the community following the horrific incident.

She said: ‘We’ve had such an outpouring of sympathy from those who knew Poppy and were sad about what had happened.

‘She was very well-known in the area.

‘It has become clear to us that she meant a lot to a lot of people.’

To donate to the appeal for Snarl, head to justgiving.com/crowdfunding/catchpoppyskiller