Cat-owners are living in terror in a quaint corner of London after a series of horrifying incidents where they claim a mystery bandit is abducting their beloved moggies.

In just a matter of weeks, five thefts have been reported – three on camera – but many more felines are feared to have been taken. 

The catnappings have taken place across a one mile radius of Mitcham, South London, and while two have been returned following appeals – one remains missing.

The cats come home distressed, timid and their temperaments changed, leaving owners terrified of what the unidentified culprit is doing to the felines while holding them hostage.

A local animal rescue group involved in the hunt for the notorious Croydon Cat Killer – who operated in the same area – say they are baffled by the goings on but believe one individual is responsible. 

Amy Mawsom was at home on the night of February 24 when her Ring Doorbell filmed a man in a black beanie, matching coat and rucksack trying to grab her 14-year-old Manx cat Bailey from her driveway.

The 43-year-old mum-of-two told MailOnline: ‘She went out Monday night, we didn’t notice until the Tuesday, she normally comes in when we get up and she hasn’t.

‘We’ve been out with cat litter, cat biscuits, we’ve been everywhere, we drove down the back streets. We’ve tried everything. She’s old, she’s never strayed, she always comes home.

‘We did report it to the police but they didn’t take notice. They’ve done nothing, they’ve got no description, they didn’t ask nothing about the cat, the man, they didn’t ask for the footage.

‘I just hope wherever he’s got her he’s looking after her. It could be for money, bait. It does seem a bit weird. We only moved in in November.’

Amy – who hasn’t offered a reward for Bailey’s return – thinks it is likely the same man behind all of the three recorded thefts but says she struggles to understand what his motive is.

Her daughter Charlie, 25, said the ordeal has been so stressful she doesn’t even like talking about it.

The tale took a terrifying twist when Amy’s son Nathan discovered a car parked up on her cul-de-sac with four fried chicken bones left on the windscreen. Amy believes it was a trap left to entice cats on her road.

‘We’ve never seen that car before ever’, Amy said, ‘it doesn’t belong to anyone on the street, no one else along here has a camera.’

On October 3, another cat was stolen on Longfield Drive, the same street where Bailey was pinched, while on December 20 a cat was stolen from Flanders Crescent, just half a mile away. The latter incident remains an open investigation.

Bailey’s abduction follows the almost identical catnapping of Simba, a ginger tabby owned by Anabela Cunha, just a mile away in November.

The theft, caught on Ring doorbell, shows the figure, in a black coat and rucksack, grabbing screaming Simba from his driveway and waddling away with the cat between their legs.

Mrs Cunha said at the time: ‘I just want to know why someone would take him and hurt him like this. He is independent and loves living with us. I’m praying that he’s still alive and if he is he may make his own way home.’

Simba was found in a garden two-and-a-half miles away in Streatham after the homeowner heard him whimpering and brought him in.

The mystery as to why cats are being taken has baffled not just their owners but rescuers in the area.

Boudicca Rising, whose group South London Animal Rescue Investigation Network investigated the notorious Croydon Cat Killer, told MailOnline that while the incidents are ‘bizarre’ she does not believe there to be a clear motive for the thefts.

She said: ‘We think all three are the same guy. He is taking cats with some force. It’s just very weird, we are grateful he has bought the first two cats back. 

‘But he hasn’t bought the third one back which is a worry. We don’t think it is linked to our case with the Croydon Cat Killer.

‘There were unfortunately a lot of people stealing cats during lockdown to breed them and sell them, this doesn’t have the feel of that, it’s just odd.’

The Met Police launched an investigation into the Croydon Cat Killer in 2015, but later said that there was no evidence of ‘human involvement’. 

Last November a horrifying video emerged of a disheveled man walking down Frinton Street in nearby Tooting with a cat called Shelley.

He was spotted by a neighbour and confronted on camera as he scruffed the nine-year-old mog’s neck with his mouth like an animal, before running off.

Shelley was returned 48 hours later but her owners, the Devenneys, say the ordeal left them shaken and damaged their poor cat.

Brian Devenney, 78, who has lived in Tooting for 53 years and is originally from Ireland, told MailOnline: ‘Our neighbour saw him taking the cat and said ‘that’s my neighbour’s cat’ and it snowballed from there. He just walked off with her. It’s a horrible thing to do to people.

‘We offered a £50 reward, oh Christ you do anything, they’re family. We would be lost without her.’

Brian was told Shelley was allegedly seen in Putney, four miles away, with the man he branded a ‘vagrant’.

Following a viral video and a media appeal Shelley appeared in a nearby street.

Brian explained: ‘The bloke who abducted her, because he had seen his face in print and the police were chasing him, he came down this road, pulled the cat out from under his coat and threw her into a garden and kept running.

‘Someone got her and brought her back. When she got in here all she wanted to do was hide. 

‘She is very nervous now, first couple of weeks she was back she would not let nobody touch her. She now goes out for just 10-15 minutes then comes to the front door.

‘We got the police involved, we wanted him arrested. We still want him arrested. We never heard any more from the police.

‘What is he doing with the cats though? If I see him I’d probably go for him, I’d give him a really good hiding.’

Brian’s granddaughter Michelle said the ordeal left her devastated but she is glad Shelley was returned safely.

The thefts, of which three have been caught on camera, are feared to be much more widespread and have left other residents fearing for their own cats.

One woman in the area, who did not want to be named, said she fears for the safety of her Russian Blue tom cat following the abductions.

‘He’s a pedigree and quite valuable, I have no idea what he is doing to the cats’, she said.

Concerns grew last week when a man matching the catnapper’s description was pictured in Streatham towing a bike trailer with cat boxes stacked up on it.

One local compared the menacing image to the Child Catcher in the 1968 hit film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, who used a horse-drawn carriage to abduct kids.

There is no suggestion the man pictured with the trailer is behind the abductions.

For now, the whereabouts of Bailey the missing Manx remains a mystery – and all Amy can do is hope.

‘It’s getting very hard, it’s all weird’, she said.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: ‘Police are aware of four separate reports of cats having been stolen in Mitcham.

‘A theft of a cat in Longfield Drive, Mitcham was reported to police at around 18:00hrs on Thursday, October 3.

‘Officers were called to the theft of a cat in Maple Close, Mitcham, at around 19:00hrs on Thursday, November 7.

‘Police were called to the theft of a cat in Frinton Road, Tooting, at around 09:00hrs on Monday, November 25.

‘Lastly, officers were alerted to a cat having been stolen in Flanders Crescent, Tooting, at around 15:00hrs on Friday, December 20.

‘The incidents are not being treated as related. There have been no arrests.

‘Investigations into the incidents which occurred on Monday, 25 November and Friday, 20 December remain ongoing. The other two cases have been closed.’