Letter: Thanks for neighbours help after 'cat-nap'

Being away from home is very unlike him, as he does not stray far away from home anymore.

We and a few neighbours searched the immediate area to no avail.

The next day posters were put up and we spent a few hours knocking on doors and searching alleyways.

We asked my neighbour to look at their CCTV, and to our horror we saw our beloved cat taken from our drive under our car by a youth on a skateboard.

A further CCTV image across the road showed the youths in full focus.

We again went from house-to-house frantic with worry.

Not sure what was worse - finding him hurt or dead somewhere, or being taken from his territory.

Police were called and another evening brought no joy.

Our whole street in disbelief that this could happen under all our noses.

We were hearing dreadful stories of pets being taken and we were desperate to find these two youths that we could see on the CCTV.

On Thursday we finally had a lead via my son’s friend, and with the help of Facebook and with the help of our good neighbour who had spent hours driving around on the search, spotted our "takers" walking past.

We confronted the two youths and were told they were glad they found the owners as they said they thought Charlie was a stray cat.

We now have Charlie home slightly shaken and nervous.

He was given a big welcome back as he is well-loved, no one could believe this had happened.

We do not think we would have ever seen him again if it was not for the neighbour's CCTV.

We cannot thank all our neighbours enough for all their help.

We would also like to thank my team at Wimbledon Cofely who put up with me.

They all think I am Liam Neeson.

We were not going to give up our search - he is like our child and could not bear the thought of what might have happened to him.

All of us especially Charlie would like to say a big thank you to everyone.

Anyone who has missing pets don’t give up, your pets want to come home they really do.

Mandy, Jason and Jordan Clements.