CONVICTED (2021) | Stephen R Bouquet, born 05/01/1967 (deceased), of Rose Hill Terrace, Brighton BN1 4JJ – killed nine cats and maimed seven more during nine-month animal cruelty campaign
Brighton Cat Killer Stephen Bouquet, a security guard and former Royal Navy seaman was convicted of killing nine cats after stabbing at least 16 pets during an eight-month rampage.
Bouquet stabbed at least 16 pet cats and potentially many more.
He killed nine cats and seven more he left for dead survived. Some of his victims are shown in our photo montage.
Authorities fear Bouquet could be responsible for other possible cat attacks in the city.
Bouquet was tried in his absence after failing to appear at court.
Police apprehended him in Brighton on the evening of 28 June 2021 after a tip off from a member of the public who saw him drinking and behaving oddly in a city park.
His location was kept secret from the jury who took three hours to find him guilty.
The court heard Bouquet had pictures of the cats he attacked on his phone. When they searched his flat, police found a knife stained with feline blood in his kitchen.
Phone data placed him at or near the scene when cats were attacked.
Bouquet obsessively searched online for coverage of his animal cruelty.
He copied reports from Brighton daily paper The Argus and The Guardian onto his phone as news of his crimes spread.
Bouquet was convicted of damaging and destroying property.
Sentencing, Judge Jeremy Gold QC said the crimes were ‘appalling’ and the impact on the owners and their families was ‘considerable and grave’.
‘No explanation for your behaviour has been put forward but no sensible explanation could be advanced.’
He jailed Bouquet for five years for the cat killings, three months for possession of the knife to be served concurrently and three months for failing to answer bail to be served consecutively – a total sentence of five years and three months.
Sentencing: jailed for a total of five years and three months. As he was not prosecuted under animal welfare legislation he was not banned from keeping animals.
Update
On 18 January 2022 it was reported that Bouquet had died in prison apparently from cancer.
He Looks Like FREDDY CRUGGER.
We’ll have to wait and see what happens with this one.
I can’t wait to confront this object…I wonder f it’s moved squat now ?
Can somebody explain why the charges are for criminal damage rather than animal cruelty?
I’m guessing that with our pathetic animal welfare laws, the prosecution can seek a more severe sentence for criminal damage, if that’s the case it goes to further highlight the inadequacy of animal welfare laws that if he is convicted he can only expect the same punishment as somebody who causes £32,000 worth of damage to inanimate objects.
Surely there should also be animal cruelty charges, if only to ensure a ban on keeping animals, as there would be no ban upon conviction of criminal damage charges alone
Apparently the sentence is more serious for criminal damage than it is for animal cruelty.
Maybe it’s time the laws on animal cruelty were reviewed?
He won’t survive his prison sentence, he was diagnosed with an untreatable, aggressive cancer, around the time he was sentenced to five years in prison. So a ban would have no effect. He’s facing a horrible death in clink, hurray!
I’m hearing that the case has been dropped due to lack of evidence
I really hope that’s not true, but even if it is he’s staying on the database.
The trial is being heard this Monday (June 21st)
I’ve been wondering about this case. Thanks for the update.
Nope he has been charged.
Bouquet worked in the navy blowing up landmines before he was a security guard in Churchill Square, Brighton. Pity they didn’t blow him up!!
so glad this one has been caught. lock him up i hope.
Bouquet was prosecuted for damage to property as the crimes he committed happened before the recent change to sentencing for animal cruelty. The law states that a person has to be sentenced according to the laws in force at the time the crimes were committed. If he had been prosecuted under the laws regarding animal cruelty, the maximum sentence he would have bbeen given would have been only six months in prison. Prosecuting him for damage to property gave the chance of him receiving a much longer sentence.
Around the time of sentencing, it was reported in several online news outlets that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. It is untreatable and it will kill him.
I am delighted by that news. I hope he dies just a few days before his release date after an agonising few weeks of severe pain. He deserves nothing less.