A LITTLE girl has been reunited with her beloved pet cat after he was taken from outside her home in a cat-astrophic misunderstanding.

Keira, nine, was left heartbroken when Oscar went missing.

Her mum Siobhan Lee, 34, checked the footage from CCTV cameras outside their home, in Stanford Road, Colchester.

She was horrified to see a car pull up and a man get out and put Oscar in his car.

After passing the footage on to police, an investigation has revealed the couple who put him in the car had mistaken Oscar for their own cat, which is also missing.

Officers arrived at Ms Lee’s house on Saturday at 1am with Oscar.

Ms Lee said: “There were no streetlights on when they knocked on the door.

“We were wondering who it was.

“They were just standing there with a cat basket.

“I said ‘are you joking?’ and ran downstairs.

“I was excited. I’m just happy that Oscar’s back.”

Keira slept through the excitement of Oscar arriving home, and had the lovely surprise when she woke up.

Ms Lee said: “He was in the back garden and I just said ‘he’s back’.

“She was really excited. She picked him up.

“It’s really nice now. He’s getting really pampered and looked after. She’s bought him a new little bed and a new collar.”

She added: “Everyone was like you’ve got to keep your hopes up, but I didn’t think I would see him again. The CCTV cameras are the best thing we’ve ever got.

“Without them we probably wouldn’t have got him back.”