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Cat rescue groups have successfully managed to get the remaining 27 cats from Catmando’s house in Gainsborough and taken them into care, after weeks of protests outside his home.

Protests began outside a house on Portland Terrace in Gainsborough on Thursday, September 9, when groups claimed that there was a man keeping over 50 cats in poor living conditions in his home.

These demonstrations then became regular as more horror stories were being revealed, and protestors said they had seen the man walking cats on leads with bells on them.

Local cat rescue groups want the animals removed from the house in Gainsborough. | Photo: Michelle Page

Cat rescue groups notified the RSPCA and Lincolnshire Police and investigations began to try and establish the circumstances surrounding this man, self-labelled as ‘Catmando’.

Police attended the property during the morning of Tuesday, September 14, rescuing 11 cats but sadly losing one as it died.

12 cats were rescued, including one pictured left who is being treated and a kitten (right) who sadly died. | Photo: Michelle Page

Upon entering the property, it was said that the condition was disgusting and all the drains were blocked with excrement.

Michelle Page of Page’s Pet Rescue was at the forefront of the daily protests, and confirmed to The Lincolnite that all the remaining cats had been handed over from Catmando’s house to her rescue on Tuesday afternoon.

The cats were being fed rice, mince, bread and ribs on the bone out of a pan when living at Catmando’s house. | Photo: Michelle Page

According to Michelle, a total of 37 cats were seized, 10 of which went to other rescues in the area, and the other 27 went to Page’s.

They are currently in the process of chipping the animals and offering veterinary care for them in anticipation of finding new owners for the felines.

One particular cat has also been reunited with its owner three years after they first declared it missing, after an appeal posted online by Michelle saw pictures of the pet match the description given.

27 cats are now in the hands of Page’s Pet Rescue as they looks for new homes for felines. | Photo: Michelle Page

It has been an incredibly long process for Michelle, who said she has hardly slept since the protests began, due to desperately trying to rescue these cats.

She said: “It has been so stressful, we’ve been out night and day to try and sort it, and naturally it’s had a massive impact on us.

“Obviously it’s a massive weight lifted off our shoulders knowing that the cats are safe, but the process has been so mentally draining and now we are being met with the financial burden of caring for all these cats who need help.”

Some of the cats arrived at the rescue in horrendous condition, owing perhaps to the poor living standards they had at Catmando’s home. | Photo: Michelle Page

Michelle said that some cats require dental work, while others are covered with fleas and some even need X-rays and surgery to fix their problems before she can even consider finding a home for them.

To try and help raise money to properly treat the cats before they find their new forever homes, Page’s Pet Rescue have set up a fundraiser and an Amazon Wishlist, which you can visit by clicking the relevant links.

Two of the cats that were taken into the rescue from Catmando’s house. | Photo: Michelle Page

At the time of reporting, almost £1,500 has been donated to the fundraiser, which will allow for Michelle to cover medical bills and microchipping before they are rehoused.

Michelle has also told The Lincolnite that Ian ‘Catmando’ has threatened her numerous times since she started her protests, which police have said they are investigating.

“He just seems to have a problem with me”, she said. “We’re just trying to provide these cats with the best quality of life.”

A prison inmate threatened to kill his probation officer and go on a killing spree, Lincoln Crown Court was told on Thursday.

Damon Lane made the threats while discussing arrangements for his release from Lincoln jail.

Lane also threatened to burn down a police station when he was released.

Eunice Opare-Addo, prosecuting, said that Lane made the threats while talking to a probation officer at the prison.

“He went into various issues he had with getting accommodation.

“He talked of going on a killing spree in Leicester city centre and of taking the life of his probation officer. He also made threats to set fire to a police station.”

Miss Opare-Addo said that two hours later Lane made further similar threats to another probation officer.

“He said he was going to stab his probation officer and that he was going to go on a killing spree. He made reference to the Plymouth shootings and said ‘That guy got it right’.”

The court was told that Lane had 39 previous convictions for a total of 76 offences.

Damon Lane, 36, currently a serving prisoner, originally from the Leicester area, admitted two charges of making threats to kill on August 16 of this year. He was jailed for 14 months.

Karen Walton, in mitigation, said Lane expressed his apology for what he did.

“He has been homeless since he was 16. Accommodation problems are often the reason he ends up back in prison. It is very frustrating for him.”

Miss Walton said that while in custody, Lane has stopped taking drugs and when he is released hopes to take up a place with a charity in Oxford which runs a project designed to give work and accommodation to people leaving prison.

Vaccine bosses said COVID-19 will be similar to the common cold by next Spring, as booster jabs are launched across Lincolnshire — but daily numbers on Thursday are the highest since last November.

Government figures showed 493 new cases in Lincolnshire, 73 in North East Lincolnshire and 181 in North Lincolnshire. The 747 case total is the highest since November 12, when 873 cases were confirmed.

Six further deaths of Lincolnshire residents were also confirmed in the government figures.

NHS data showed six deaths in Greater Lincolnshire’s hospitals on Thursday with five at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust and one at Northern Lincolnshire And Goole NHS Trust.

Nationally, cases increased by 36,710 to 7,565,867 while deaths rose by 182 to 135,803.

Locally, the first booster jabs were given out in Grantham on Wednesday, while further doses will launch from the PRSA in Boston and Lincolnshire Showground on Friday.

Under 6,000 vaccinations were carried out last week as booster jabs begin in the county – but Lincoln’s MP and the government’s scientific experts have collided in their views over jabbing young people.

Vaccination data released on Thursday revealed that 1,113,804 doses of the jab had now been handed out in Lincolnshire.

There were 5,739 doses given out in the past week, 1,486 fewer doses than the previous week’s 7,225.

Lincolnshire’s coronavirus cases up to September 23. | Image: GOV.uk

The designer of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has told a Royal Society of Medicine webinar that that COVID-19 will become less virulent over time and there was “no reason” to think it would become more.

“We normally see that viruses become less virulent as they circulate more easily and there is no reason to think we will have a more virulent version of Sars-CoV-2,” said Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert.

“We tend to see slow genetic drift of the virus and there will be gradual immunity developing in the population as there is to all the other seasonal coronaviruses.”

She was backed by Professor Sir John Bell, regius professor of medicine at Oxford University, who said: “If you look at the trajectory we’re on, we’re a lot better off than we were six months ago.”

“The pressure on the NHS is largely abated. If you look at the deaths from COVID, they tend to be very elderly people, and it’s not entirely clear it was COVID that caused all those deaths,” he told Times Radio.

“So I think we’re over the worst of it now and I think what will happen is, there will be quite a lot of background exposure to Delta.”

Elsewhere, the Moderna boss Stéphane Bancel told a Swiss newspaper that there was enough production of vaccines and booster shots to ensure the pandemic will be over in a year.

Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Thursday, September 23

110,372 cases (up 747)

• 72,406 in Lincolnshire (up 493)
• 17,551 in North Lincolnshire (up 181)
• 20,415 in North East Lincolnshire (up 73)

2,331 deaths (up six)

• 1,707 from Lincolnshire (up five)
• 316 from North Lincolnshire (no change)
• 308 from North East Lincolnshire (up one)

of which 1,401 hospital deaths (up six)

• 858 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (up five)
• 44 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)
• 1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)
• 498 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (up one)

DATA SOURCE — FIGURES CORRECT AT THE TIME OF THE LATEST UPDATE. POSTCODE DATA INCLUDES DEATHS NOT IN HEALTHCARE FACILITIES OR IN HOSPITALS OUTSIDE AUTHORITY BOUNDARIES.