A RAT catcher and his trusty dog caught six rodents in Priory Park as he dubbed the area the “worst place for rat infestations”.

Benfleet’s Billie Burroughs claims he spotted dozens of the rodents running riot in the park and scurrying into the children’s play area.

The 41-year-old trained his patterdale terrier Rollo to hunt rats two and a half years ago to “keep the public safe from the rodents”.

He has named the Southend park as the worst place for rat infestations he has seen in his time catching rodents.

This follows weeks of reports of the animals being spotted near the children’s play area followed by dead rats being spotted in the park.

Southend Council have previously said they are “aware of brown rats” at Priory Park and have “measures in place” to control the numbers, while urging the public to play their part by avoiding leaving behind rubbish and litter.

Mr Burroughs said: “After reading the Echo’s pieces on the rat situation at Priory Park and being contacted by concerned residents, I thought I’d go down and have a look. I was absolutely shocked to see dozens of rodents running around and being told by one man that they were scurrying into the kids’ play area. It was out of control.

“It’s deeply concerning because rats carry Weil’s Disease in their urine. It just takes one to urinate in the play area, a kid drops a sweet and eats it. In total, Rollo caught six rats in less than an hour. I couldn’t believe it.

“I do the catching for free because I want to keep the public safe from the rodents.”

When Rollo kills the rats, Mr Burroughs says he takes them away and puts them either in the rubbish or in his friend’s waste yard.

A council spokesperson said: “Where possible, the council uses control measures such as habitat management and litter picking to manage rat populations in its parks. In the main, numbers of pests such as rats are kept down by natural causes, such as larger predators, for example, foxes, catching them as food.

“However, there are specific situations that require the council to step in as landowner. In the past, and as a last resort, we have used secure bait boxes for example, but this is very rare. We only use these boxes that are designed for rats, not other animals and the location of the boxes are carefully considered, so local pet owners need not worry about their pets digesting the poison. Parks staff have been asked to further visit Priory Park.”