Bouquet was a military veteran, having served for twenty-two years achieving the rank of warrant officer in the Royal Navy and was stationed in Northern Ireland and Iraq.
Mr. Levy, owner of a previously killed cat, had set-up a closed-circuit television (CCTV) outside in the narrow alley connecting Church Street and North Road in Brighton to monitor the area.
[4] The Sussex Police were able to obtain enough evidence to charge Bouquet with the killing by stabbing with a knife of nine cats: Nancy, Ollie, Alan, Tommy, Cosmo, Hendrix, Hannah, Kyo and Gizmo.
In addition, Bouquet administered knife stab wounds to another seven cats: Wheatley, Alistair, Rigby, Gideon, Samson, Jasper and Maggie.
On 22 June 2021, at the Chichester Crown Court the criminal trial by jury with Judge Jeremy Gold QC presiding was held.
The Sussex Police eventually located and apprehended Bouquet based on a tip from a member of the public that observed him drinking alcohol and displaying odd behaviour at a park in Brighton.
Not only did Steve Bouquet inflict horrendous suffering to each of the animals he attacked, but he also caused real trauma to their owners, many of whom found their beloved pets injured and bleeding.
His claims that it was simply chance that he was present at various times when the animals were attacked were rightly dismissed by the jury after being disproved by the investigation and prosecution work.
"While Bouquet was serving his sentence at the HM Prison Elmley he was receiving end-of-life care for thyroid cancer, when he experienced symptoms of coughing and breathing difficulties.
[13][14][15] The coroner expressed condolences to Bouquet’s brother and apologised for the length of time it took to reach a conclusion due to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It will show the breakthrough moment in May 2019 when CCTV captured Bouquet stabbing nine-month-old Hendrix in a passageway in Brighton, and his subsequent police interviews following arrest.