POLICE believe that a security guard jailed for killing several cats may have attacked more than 40 pets.

Steve Bouquet, known as the "Brighton Cat Killer," was convicted of attacking and maiming 16 cats between October 2018 and May 2019, leaving nine dead.

He was found guilty of 16 offences of criminal damage in relation to the cats, as well as possession of a knife in June last year, and sentenced to five years and three months in prison.

However, in a documentary on the killings broadcast last night, police have now revealed they suspect Bouquet may have been responsible for attacking more than 40 cats across Brighton.

Detective inspector for Sussex Police Chris Thompson said: “We may not be able to prove what he did to every single cat, but five years is a very good sentence for that."

The story of how Sussex Police officers caught Steven Bouquet was documented in the ITV documentary How to Catch a Cat Killer.

The show detailed how local cat-lovers and activists leafletted local areas with warnings urging cat owners to keep their pets indoors for their own safety, as Bouquet carried out his deadly spree.

The documentary also revealed how police made a big breakthrough in their investigation after CCTV, set up by a resident whose cat was killed, caught Bouquet attacking another feline.

Bouquet, who worked as a security guard at a shopping centre, was then spotted down the lane a second time and was apprehended by police.

Officers later confirmed through his phone data that he had been in the areas where 14 cats had been attacked and also found internet searches on his laptop of videos of dogs hurting cats.

Det Insp Thompson said: “He watched these videos at one or two in the morning and during the course of that period another cat was killed. Almost as if that was him sort of invigorating himself to go and do something else."

Bouquet died in prison earlier this year.

Although his cause of death was not disclosed, a court was told in Bouquet’s sentencing hearing that he had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer that had spread to his liver and lungs.

Mike Ashcroft, detective superintendent for Sussex Police, paid tribute to the efforts of community groups during the investigation and said: “Without the extra eyes and ears of members of the community, I don’t think we would have got to the successful outcome as quickly as we would have done, and we remain really grateful to them to this day.”

Stewart Montgomery, whose black at Hendrix was among the Cat Killer’s victims, said: “It was a good sentence, it doesn’t bring your animal back, but it does send out quite a nice strong message that you cannot get away with this and this is a disgusting crime.”