An Amazon delivery driver was caught on a doorbell camera taking a family cat from a garden in Elland, West Yorkshire, before keeping her at his home in Oldham for three days, a court heard on Friday. Catalin Stancu, 41, pleaded guilty at Bradford Magistrates' Court to taking the three-year-old rescue cat Nora and was sentenced to eight weeks in prison, suspended for a year.
The footage, checked by Nora’s owner, showed Stancu delivering a package on 19 January, staring at the cat for a prolonged period and then picking her up and putting her into a car. The cat’s owner, who is not named in the facts provided, later received a Facebook request from Stancu after the video was shared online, while his daughter got a TikTok message saying: “I have your cat. Please text me your address. I tried to give the cat back but I forget the place I took it.”
The court heard Stancu told police he had not noticed Nora was wearing a collar. He also told police, “I didn’t steal it, I just took it.” But the judge was clear that whatever his motive, the way he behaved crossed a line. “Whatever your initial motive was for taking Nora, and whatever concerns you had about Nora’s health, you should not have behaved in the way you did,” the court was told.
Nora was returned to her family after Stancu was arrested, but the damage did not end there. Her owners said she is now unable to go outside in the same way she used to, and they have had an enclosed outdoor area built for her because they fear she could be taken again. The case also underlined why the offence was introduced in 2024: to distinguish the taking of a pet from ordinary theft and recognize that a family animal is not just property.
For Nora’s family, the punishment closed the case in court but not at home. A cat that once moved freely in the garden now lives behind extra barriers, and the day Stancu carried her away has changed how they see even a familiar doorstep.
