Shot in Cold Blood: Police Appeal for Information after Shooting of Pet Cats in Both Hartlepool & Stockton...

Incidents in both Hartlepool & Stockton on Tees possibly linked, as police appeal for information.

21st July 2025

Cleveland Police are said to be investigating two disturbing incidents in both Stockton & Hartlepool where two beloved family pets have been shot and killed—sparking fears a serial animal abuser may be on the loose.

The first case involves four-year-old cat 'Dobby', a white cat with distinctive grey ear tips, who was reportedly shot with an air rifle in the Aiskew Grove area of Stockton on Tees on the evening of Friday, 17th July. Its claimed Residents seen the cat in distress around 7:30pm, with his owners finding him near the junction of Aiskew Grove and Kipling Grove the following morning. Despite their best efforts, its said the cat later succumbed to his horrific injuries.

Just days earlier, another upsetting case emerged from the Northgate/Bond Street area of Hartlepool featuring similar injuries. This time, a pet cat named Betty was shot dead. Her killing occurred at 03:07am on Monday, 14th July, and was said to have been partially captured on CCTV. Although the attack was reportedly caught from a side angle, the registration plate of the vehicle involved—a silver Skoda Yeti—was not visible.

Betty's devastated owner has made a public appeal online this week for residents in the Northgate/Bond Street area of Hartlepool's headland to check their CCTV, Ring doorbells, or dashcam footage between 03:00am and 03:10am on that date in a bid to bring the culprits to justice.

“We need this man caught before he hurts any more animals—or, God forbid, a human. My two older children now have anxiety and fear he may come back.”

While Cleveland Police have yet to confirm any formal link between the two incidents, the proximity in both time and geography, along with the extremely rare and cruel nature of both crimes, raises serious questions. Could the same individual be targeting innocent pets in the dead of night?

And if so, what are they capable of next?

What’s clear is that both families are now mourning the los of a loved pet and have been left both traumatised and living in fear.

Cleveland Police are urging anyone with relevant CCTV, Ring footage—particularly from the Aiskew Grove, Kipling Grove, Northgate, and Bond Street areas—to step forward. They are especially keen to trace the silver Skoda Yeti which was reported to have been seen in the vicinity of the cat which was killed on Hartlepool's Headland.

If you have any information, no matter how minor it may seem, please contact Cleveland Police on 101 quoting reference number 135794.

Alternatively, you can provide anonymous tips via Crimestoppers at www.crimestoppers-uk.org or by calling 0800 555 111.