A dognapper was reportedly on the prowl in Kent weeks before PCSO Julia James was killed while walking her beloved pet in the same area.
The community officer, 53, was attacked while out with her Jack Russell terrier in woodland near her home in the hamlet of Snowdown on Tuesday.
Police have not yet made arrests or revealed a suspected motive - but it has now emerged that they were aware of a potential dognapping incident which happened weeks earlier.
According to a warning from the local force published in a parish magazine, a man thought to be in his 60s approached two dog-walkers in a threatening way.
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