Chihuahua is stolen from outside house

Karen Porteous was shocked to discover that four-year-old Tiger-Lily had been picked up off the street by her home in Shefford.

The 47-year-old had been out shopping with her parents when a neighbour saw a teenage girl carrying the dog away from the house in Ampthill Road on Sunday, May 26.

Karen, who suffers from MS said: “We had been out at a garden centre and when I got back I noticed that the front gate had been left open and that Tiger-Lily was nowhere to be seen.

“I searched everywhere and thought maybe she had just wandered off, but then a couple of days later a neighbour said she saw Tiger-Lily being carried away in the direction of Campton and Chicksands.”

The neighbour did not suspect that anything was wrong as the suspect looked very similar to Karen’s daughter Helena.

She added: “The suspect was a teenage girl aged about 17 with long brown hair, which is similar to my daughter, so she didn’t think anything of it, though Helena was inside revising for her exams.

“Once she told me I knew that it was obviously theft.”

Karen and her husband Bruce have made enquiries around the area and have also put up posters asking if anyone knows of Tiger-Lily’s whereabouts.

They are offering a cash reward to anyone who can secure her safe return to the family.

Karen said: “She is a pedigree dog and we have had her since she was a puppy.

“She is worth around £1,000 and this obviously makes her valuable.

“She is very light at around 6lb so of course it would be quite easy to pick her up and carry her around.”

A spokesman for Bedfordshire Police appealed for witnesses.

Anyone with any information can contact 101, or Karen on 01462 629193 or 07539 529411.