A DOG found in Braintree has been reunited with his owner at his home – 45 miles away.

Thieves stole Rusty, a Jack Russell, and Fly, a Saluki, from David Chrzanowski’s garden in Fordham, Cambridgeshire, in March.

Mr Chrzanowski, 64, lost his partner three years ago, and his dogs were all he had left.

Karey Andreou, 23, from Witham, was shocked to find Rusty bounding towards him and his friends after he had visited Argos in Braintree earlier this month Mr Andreou said: “We couldn’t find an owner but we noticed these boys pull up in a Ford Focus, they were asking us what we were doing there and who the dog belonged to.

“I’m quite a paranoid person and we didn’t know what to say so we took the dog in our car and drove off.”

Mr Andreou and his friend Levy Jones fed and watered the dog before putting an appeal out on Facebook and knocking on doors.

On May 6, they took the dog to a security guard at Freeport, as they were unable to keep it at home.

Gazette:

The security guard contacted the RSPCA, and Mr Andreou was contacted by a woman who had set up a Facebook to find the dogs. Mr Andreou said: “I’m really happy they have been reunited, it doesn’t make sense how he ended up in Braintree.”

Mr Chrzanowski said: “When Rusty came home it was like getting a part of my life back. When I came home the day they were taken and couldn’t hear them barking it was like having my heart ripped out.

“I know I’m a man but I cried for four days. They aren’t just dogs- when you live on your own and someone takes your dogs it’s like taking a son or daughter.”

Fly, the Saluki, is still missing, possibly in Braintree. Visit www.facebook.com/rustyandfly