Business Standard

Menace of cat burglar strikes UK neighbourhood

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Press Trust of India London

The cat has a weakness for pinching and has swiped all manner of items which he takes home to his embarrassed owner Lesley Newman, aged 49.

The pet has become infamous throughout his Luton, Bedfordshire, neighbourhood as 'Denis the Menace' after stealing more than one hundred garments from his nearby homes and gardens, the Daily Mail reported.

Over an 18-month crime spree Denis's haul includes a bath towel, a thong, a football, five paintbrushes, a pair of slippers, an designer shirt, a doll and gloves.

He has taken men's boxer shorts, a pair of shoes, a cardigan, a dog chew, dozens of pairs of socks, a chamois leather, tea towels, seven car sponges and a cuddly toy.

 

Victims of the two-year-old black and white cat's antics often turn up at Newman's home in Luton, Bedfordshire, when their belongings go missing.

The first theft was recorded just a week after he was let out of the house for the first time, with his stolen stash growing week on week until he began carrying home T-shirts in his mouth, often having to jump over garden fences along the way.

His largest prize to date is a bath towel which he dragged through the streets and his most expensive is a Fred Perry polo short.

On one occasion he retrieved a woman's sandal from a garden in a neighbouring road, and returned a week later to pinch the other one.

Newman, an accounts assistant, has built up two large boxes filled with Denis's loot which she keeps in case anyone arrives to claim ownership of them.

"Denis is a rescue cat and we have had him since he was six-weeks-old. After he had been neutered I let him and my other cat, Eddie, out for the first time when they were six-months-old," Newman said.

"It was just a week after that when Denis brought his first things home. It started off as a sock and some paper, but gradually escalated," she added.

  

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First Published: Sep 20 2012 | 5:45 PM IST

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