“THEY have taken my life away. I don’t want my Sammy to die for nothing. I want the cat killer caught.”

This was the tearful message from Jean Powell after her cat’s life was taken by the Brighton Cat Killer.

The 80-year-old said: “I don’t want anyone else to have to feel like this, I am heartbroken.

“I don’t know why someone would do it, they don’t know the heartache it brings.”

Jean found her 12-year-old cat, Sammy, in her garden in London Terrace, Brighton, on Sunday evening.

This follows a spate of attacks, with five reported this month and more than 24 cases confirmed and attributed to the Brighton Cat Killer by the South Norwood Animal Rescue Liberty (SNARL) overall.

Jean said: “He never goes out at night, he would explore the neighbours’ gardens but wouldn’t go any further than that.

“I was reading The Argus that day and felt awful for everybody losing their cats, and then it happened to me. I don’t know what I’ll do without him. I call him my boy because that’s what he was, we did everything together, except going to the shops.”

Jean describes herself as an animal lover and said she had always had pets growing up.

She met Sammy when he was a kitten. He had belonged to one of her neighbours, but after they had died her neighbours’ son had struggled to find a home for his mothers’ cat.

Jean said: “I told him I would look after him and since then he has been the most wonderful cat I could ever have wanted.

“He was such a lovely boy, he would never hurt anyone. But just one look away and he has gone.”

Jean said Sammy would often sit on the wall outside her house and passers-by would “make a fuss of him”.

She said: “He was such a lovely boy. Animals love you and they don’t take anything away from you. No animal deserves to be hurt like this. Whoever is doing this can’t understand what it is like to suffer like this.

“I hope they get caught, and I hope they get their comeuppance.”

Sussex Police have investigated the deaths of several cats in the Brighton area, including a pet which was stabbed in Rugby Road, Brighton, on May 3.

A spokesman said: ““Anyone with information about this is asked to report online or call 101 quoting serial 504 of 04/05 or Operation Diverge generally.”