Woman reunited with stolen dog after eight years

A woman whose dogs were stolen eight years ago said she was left "speechless" when she was reunited with one of them.

Rebecca Harvey's two spaniels, Clover and Flora, disappeared from their kennels in her family's garden in Little Maplestead in Essex on 30 October 2017.

Throughout the years, the 30-year-old, who now lives near Sudbury in Suffolk, said there had never been any leads until Saturday, she received a phone call to say Flora had been found.

On Sunday, they were reunited, which Rebecca said was "emotional" as the dog had originally been her late father's.

In 2017, Rebecca was living at her dad's and the dogs, which were young working animals, were living in kennels in their garden along with five others in the village near Halstead.

Being the first one home from work that day, she went to let the dogs out, but noticed two were missing.

Both her dad and brother confirmed on the phone neither had taken them to work and Rebecca soon realised they had been stolen.

She said it was a "massive shock" and immediately phoned the police before later starting a campaign on social media to find them.

Unfortunately she said she had never had any successful leads.

"Sadly in the process I lost my dad four and a half years ago," she explained.

"It's all just been a bit of a crazy time and I just never expected to get that phone call on Saturday that she had been found.

"We were just absolutely shocked... I was totally speechless."

Rebecca was at home on Saturday lunchtime when her phone rang with an unknown number.

Initially ignoring it, the number rang straight back and when she picked up a woman from the charity Beauty's Legacy Animal Search Team explained a man had bought Flora a few years ago, but had come to believe she was stolen.

She and her husband drove to Kent to be reunited with Flora which she said was an "emotional" moment.

"She just came straight out, straight over to me, wagging her tail."

Rebecca said she would be taking Flora to the vet for a full check up and she had become very overweight.

She added that she still hoped to be able to find Clover one day.

"All I say is to anyone that's ever been in this situation, don't give up hope because nine years is a long time," she said.

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