Readers of a Hampshire weekly have stepped in to double a reward the paper put up to help snare a sniper who's been shooting cats in the area.

The anonymous offer has raised the Tadley Gazette's reward bounty to £400.

The paper, published by Gazette Newspapers in Basingstoke, put up a reward of £200 in conjunction with Crimestoppers after a number of cats were shot and killed in nearby Pamber Heath.

The couple decided to double the reward after their own cat was shot in Tadley at close range with a .22 air rifle. The pellet went straight through the animal's eye and lodged itself in his jaw. More than 15 cats in one street have been shot with darts from a BB gun.

Despite the £200 reward and repeated appeals by the police, the sniper has not been caught.

Gazette Newspapers editor Mark Jones said: "We are very grateful for the generosity of the couple, and hope that the extra reward money will be the catalyst that will lead to someone revealing the identity of the sniper."

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