Jo Whiley's husband in 'world of pain' after killing family cat in heartbreaking tragedy

Jo Whiley's husband has been left devastated after accidentally killing their family cat. The 60-year-old radio presenter'sspouse, music executive Steve Morton, is heartbroken after "slowly" driving his car over their pet cat.

14-year-old Simba was on their driveway and Steve had not realised she had moved back near the vehicle after he had initially moved her to park the vehicle. Jo was emotional as she told her fellow Radio 2 host Zoe Ball.

Speaking on their Dig It podcast, she said: "I feel like I haven't been completely honest with what's going on in my life, but I can't - I just can't talk about it. Sorry, I thought I should do it, but I don't think I can.

READ MORE: Terry Wogan's son furiously hits out as family home has 'no interest' on market

READ MORE: Stuart Pebble dead: Grumpy Old Men creator dies aged 74 after cancer battle

"And God, it's really hard to talk about, but I should do it because I think it's actually relatively common. But we came back from holiday, and all the kids are out doing various different things."

She recalled: "I went to my mum and dad, and I got a call from Steve in a complete panic. And he had come home, and he - it sounds ridiculous to say - but he'd run our cat over. And it's really sad."

Jo also has another cat called Gingin as well as a Sproodle dog called Brodie and a golden retriever named Boosh. She admitted she was devastated by the tragic loss the family have faced.

"It's really awful. So, whereas once we were a family with four pets, we now have three. It was Simba, our cat, who was the old lady of the family. And I think we've showed pictures of her before, and I've talked about her before. She was the Bengal," she said.

"In fact, we did. She was on the other day. She was our Bengal, and she's about 14 years old. And she was really noisy and really, really hungry all the time. So she was always - had a very fierce presence."

She added: "I ordered so much cat food that arrived yesterday morning, ironically, that he drove into the driveway and she was lying because it's so hot outside. The animals have just been lazing around on the gravel.

"And she was lying there. And he literally drove in really slowly, he said. And he got out of the car and went to move her out of the way, moved her, physically moved her, thought that she'd gone, and then drove the car in, and she hadn't. We just cannot work out what on earth happened. And he's absolutely distraught."

Simba was very close to Steve and would sit on his lap, with Jo joking that the cat was his "girlfriend". She said: "Because in those evenings when he's at home, and I'm at work, and he's always said, 'Oh, she's my girlfriend.' She wouldn't sit on anyone else's lap, she'd just go to him. So he's in a world of pain."

Jo and Steve share four children together - daughters India and Coco, and sons Jude and Cassius - and she is grateful they weren't at home when the tragic incident occurred.

"We had to spend the whole day yesterday because none of the kids were at home - thank God when it happened. He had to deal with that with our lovely friend, Andrew the vet, who came along and put her out of her misery," she said.

"And then we just had to wait and just tell the kids, and that's the worst thing in the world. Having to work out the words to say, knowing like going to pick up Coco, she's had an amazing day with her friends, knowing you've got this awful news that you've got to tell her to make everything come crashing down and doing that. And then Cas, who loves animals so much. So it's been horrid."

For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Threads.