Catalin Stancu Gets Eight-Week Term for Amazon Driver Cat Theft Elland

amazon driver cat theft elland came before Bradford Magistrates' Court, where Catalin Stancu pleaded guilty to taking Nora from a garden in Elland and received an eight-week prison sentence suspended for a year. The three-year-old rescue cat was taken from outside her home on 19 January.

Prosecutor Paul Ramsey said Stancu was the Amazon delivery driver seen on Ring doorbell footage delivering a package, staring at Nora for a prolonged period, then picking her up and placing her in a car. The footage spread online after Nora did not come home for tea as normal and remained missing the next day.

Bradford Magistrates' Court

Bradford Magistrates' Court heard that Stancu kept Nora at his home in Oldham for three days before she was returned. Stancu told police he had not noticed the cat was wearing a collar, and he pleaded guilty to the offence of taking a cat.

District Judge Paul Marks told him: “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.”

Oldham and Elland

After the footage was posted online, Carl Crowther received a Facebook request from Stancu and his daughter received a TikTok message saying: “Hello, I have your cat. Please text me your address. I tried to give the cat back but I forget the place I took it.” Stancu was arrested and Nora was returned to her family.

Crowther said Nora is now less able to go outside in the same way she used to, and the family has had an enclosed outdoor area built for her over fears she could be taken again. The court also heard the offence of taking a cat was introduced in 2024 to distinguish it from theft and reflect that a family pet is more than an object.

Stancu's sentence

Stancu said he did not know the cat had an owner and took her only to care for her. Speaking outside court, he said: “I didn't steal it, I just took it.” He also said he had no “bad intention,” and added that people in Romania had been taunting him since the social media post started circulating.

The suspended sentence means he does not serve the prison term now unless he breaches the court order, leaving the conviction and sentence in place while the case closes with Nora back home and her family changing how they use the garden.