GOMEZ the whistling cockatiel finally returned home to his best friend and owner, seven-year-old Katrina Thompson yesterday.

The grey bird - named Gomez by RSPCA for repeatedly whistling the theme to the Addams Family - went missing last week.

But after a media appeal the Chester-le-Street owners of the bird - real name Marley - identified him as their own.

Linda Thompson said the bird had flown back to a street in the nearby village of Great Lumley where it used to live with a family member. She said: "We were very surprised when we saw him on the television. We thought it would be somewhere in Chester-le-Street and my daughter Katrina and I had put posters out looking for him."

Delighted Katrina Thompson described the moment when she was re-united with Marley. She said: "He looked at me and put his head down so I could kiss him.