THREE puppies have been reunited with their mother after an appeal in The Northern Echo for her safe return.

Joanne Cliff, of Front Street, West Auckland, turned to the newspaper for help after her Bedlington terrier Molly disappeared.

Mrs Cliff said she believed the three-year-old dog had been stolen after she failed to return to home.

She said: "She was only outside for few minutes, but she did not come back when we called her.

"We knew she would not go far because of the puppies, so we knew she must have been taken.''

Mrs Cliff,a mother-of-two, received an anonymous call on the day the puppies' plight was reported in The Northern Echo.

She said: "They said that we would find her tied to a lamp-post going into Eldon. So we got in the car, and when we got there she was there. We are really happy to have her back."