When Belle the puppy disappeared five months ago, her owners thought they would never see her again.

But the little Jack Russell Terrier was found after a 310-mile trek when she was handed into an animal rescue centre.

Now she is back home, a bit bigger than before and certainly better travelled.

Belle disappeared from the back yard of Len Hutton's home, in Beaumont Street, Westerhope, Newcastle, in April.

Mr Hutton, 50, and his son Daniel, 21, had given up hope of seeing Belle again, but this month, they received a phone call that solved the mystery of the puppy's disappearance.

Mr Hutton, a grandfather of six, said: "I had let the dogs out in the yard, went back in to switch the kettle on and she had vanished. Then five months later, completely out of the blue I got a call from a woman in Ipswich saying she had bought Belle off some travellers.

"Before that, we had tried everything - we put posters up everywhere, I had kids looking and we just couldn't find her.

"We even contacted an Internet dog tracking company but we heard nothing. I had given up hope."

Maureen Taylor, who runs Mistley Place Park Rescue Centre, in Manningtree, Essex, bought Belle from a group of travellers.

She discovered Belle's real home was in Newcastle after taking the dog for routine surgery.

Vets found that Belle had been micro-chipped and called Mr Hutton to let him know the good news.

Debbie Chapman, of Gosforth vets Blythman and Partners, who micro-chipped Belle, said: "Micro-chipping is a simple harmless and very quick procedure. Owner details are input onto a national pet database system.

"Pets are scanned very easily and traced back to their owners."