Dogsey

A missing dog whose devastated owners staged the UK's first reconstruction of an animal crime have finally been reunited with their pet after it was found 80 miles away from the family home.

The Marsh family of Woking, Surrey, spent £4,000 by shooting a video reconstruction of the moment three-year-old border terrier Toby was snatched and even funded a fly-by banner featuring his name in a desperate attempt to be reunited with the pet.

They also launched a huge campaign on social media using the hashtag #FindToby, which was backed by tennis player Andy Murray, comedian Alan Carr and boyband One Direction.

However, today Louse Marsh received the call she never thought would come, when a vet's surgery in Kent contacted her to say they had Toby.

And straight away Mrs Marsh jumped into her car and drove the 80 miles from her home to go and collect her pet, which had been found running around on a nearby field.

Mrs Marsh, 28, said: 'I received a telephone call from a vet in Kent who said they had a border terrier who looked exactly like Toby.

They said he was fine and had been running around a nearby field playing with a Jack Russell, when a lady noticed him and took him to the vet.

'I drove down there straight away and collected him and we only just brought him home earlier this evening.

'He has been begging for treats ever since.'

Toby, a pedigree animal, slipped out of the front door when Mrs Marsh was distracted by her six-month-old daughter, Pippa.

This week, campaigners at the Stolen and Missing Pets Alliance called for anyone convicted of stealing a dog to be jailed for at least six weeks, after reports of the crime increased by more than a third over the past two years.

In particular, 'theft by finding' is said to be on the rise - where people who claim to have innocently come across a dog demand money for its return.

From April 2016, all dogs will be required to have an identification microchip inserted under the skin, partly to combat such crimes. But already these chips are being removed by thieves.