A GRATEFUL owner has been reunited with her pet after it went missing over Christmas.

Jackie Crofter Harris is convinced her ten-month-old lurcher, April, was stolen from her home in Bilsdale, North Yorkshire, on Sunday afternoon.

At first, she thought April may have escaped because thick snow meant Ms Crofter Harris had been unable to close her gate properly.

But she recalled seeing a dark black saloon car backing down her drive and, after a frantic round of phone calls to police and vets, resigned herself to the fact that her pet had been stolen.

She said: "I was gutted because I didn't know what had happened to the dog and when I realised she was gone I was terribly upset.

"She's my only dog and I've spent hours and hours training her.

"I was heartbroken, I wept buckets and Christmas was very miserable. Even my two cats were desolate."

But the story had a happy ending when she received a phone call from John Martin, a dog warden with Darlington Borough Council, to say April had been found in the town, some 50 miles away, on Thursday morning.

Ms Crofter Harris travelled to the National Canine Defence League kennel near Darlington to collect her pet.

She said: "I felt elated, thrilled and on top of the world."

April was only able to be reunited with her owner because Ms Crofter Harris had had her micro-chipped.

Ms Crofter Harris said: "I really would advise anybody to get their dog micro-chipped because I might never have got her back if I hadn't done so."