Meet the Ladykillers

The Ladykillers – AKA Deborah, Imogen, Angela and Janet – are four brilliant women who are successful in the field of pest control and know all about the unwelcome intruders infesting homes across the United Kingdom. Here's all you need to know about the ladies themselves, including how their interest began and their favourite jobs to tackle.

Angela has always been around animals and farming. She attended agricultural college after finishing school before working at a pig farm.

She started working in pest control 12 years ago. Another local farmer, Jack, asked Angela if she wanted to give it a go and helped fast-track her through the exams needed to become an official employee. Jack remembers Angela sticking pictures of moths to her ceiling to help her memorise them for tests.

Her first ever job was a baptism of fire. She was sent to a farm in Lincolnshire where the rats had turned to cannlibalism!

Angela loves doing grain fumigation jobs because they're large and dramatic. She is often the main port of call for fumigation jobs, which are often in the containers coming into Hull docks or at local grain stores.

Rabbiting with ferrets is one of Angela's favourite pasttimes. She recently bought two new ferrets who she has named Gordon and Bennett. The pair made their debut at Bulmer Fields in Sudbury and helped flush out half a dozen rabbits.

Angela used to find dealing with squirrels difficult because they're cute. However, after learning about the damage they do to people’s lofts and how vicious they can be, she quickly got over it.

Some pests still make her squirm. There is nothing she won’t do when it comes to pests, although the bigger rats still make her squirm a bit and she’s afraid of snakes, which occasionally crop up in the rat bait boxes.

Deborah hasn't always worked in pest control. She previously worked in hotels, as a groom at a Racecourse Stud and in a local country store. It was at this store she had her first pest control experience, where she caught a pesky rat nibbling through bags of horse feed.

She started out looking after horses. However, she soon started helping out at her current company and after studying at Warwick University for her qualifications, she has been in the industry for 12 years.

The office for Deborah is the beautiful countryside of the South East. She can be found whizzing down country lanes in her pest control van with her furry rat and mous mascots on the dashboard. Deborah sees between 20 and 40 clients a week and can drive up to 100 miles per day.

Her clients are very diverse. Deborah prides herself on her approachable and warm nature which facilitates her relationships with clients, whether they are the Duke of Norfolk and his estate, an elderly couple in a Surrey cottage or Arundel Castle!

Big rat jobs are Deborah's favourite. The biggest rat job she ever tackled was on a small holding with 100 chickens. It was so infested she was catching 20-30 rats each time she checked her traps!

She has a love hate relationship with moles. When the ground is soft in the Spring and Autumn she loves catching the little burrowers, but when the ground turns hard in the Summer months moles can be a a nightmare to catch – only two moles have evaded Deborah in her career to date.

Imogen has two degrees: a BSc (Hons) from Manchester University in Zoology and an MSc from the University of London in Rural Resources and Environmental Policy.

After working for a national pest control company, she set up her own business. Two years later, she still considers the business to be in its infancy. Her clients come from all over London, but the majority live in North London. Imogen walks or takes public transport to all her jobs.

Pest control is like solving a crime. Her one bag of tricks comprises her small toolkit, which contains her pride and joy – a little magnifying glass to identify the little monsters. Imogen is fascinated by pests and her findings on a daily basis.

Imogen is not a big fan of cockroaches. Her main pests include all the usual suspects – moths, bedbugs, cockroaches, fleas, mice and rats. She particularly dislikes cockroaches because they are "pretty unpleasant and smell nasty."

Empty houses are the best. Imogen's favourite jobs to do are completely empty houses with no furniture so it's harder for the pests to hide. Her least favourite jobs are multi-tenancy flats full to brim.

Her husband would prefer Imogen didn't bring her work home with her. One day when Daniel was rooting around for something in her pocket, he found a nasty surprise... a handful of cockroaches!

Janet started young. From the age of seven she was taken out on pest control jobs with her father and her small arms came in very handy reaching into small spaces, such as rabbit holes!

The family business is where Janet learned the tricks of the trade. After five years working in the cotton mills, Janet eventually joined her father's pest control business as a trainee, soon becoming a technician due to the experience she gained growing up.

Janet isn't afraid of any pests. Rats, mice, spiders, cockroaches, you name it – they don’t bother her! She actually has a slight affection for these animals.

Pigeons are her least favourite animal to deal with. Janet describes the birds as filthy animals that create large amounts of mess wherever they go, as well as often being difficult to catch. Whenever she gets a job relating to pigeons, she knows it's going to be a tough day.

Black ants have upped the anti. When Janet first started working with her father, they would only receive calls to jobs with black ants between April and July. However, she currently receives calls about them all year round, something she attributes to climate change.