[News] Owner Offers £10,000 Reward for Yorkie
 

A woman is so desperate to trace her stolen Yorkshire terrier Alfie that she is putting up posters around Yarmouth, Gorleston and Lowestoft offering a £10,000 reward.

Justine Marlowe's year-long nationwide hunt for her four-year-old pet has been narrowed down to the Norfolk-Suffolk border - following information from a clairvoyant.

Miss Marlowe, 37, who runs a kennel business at Faversham, Kent, said: “My dogs are my children. It feels like I have had a child stolen.

“I am not well off, but I will sell my Ford Escort and borrow and beg to raise the reward if I have to.”

Jayne Hughes, who runs the doglost.co.uk website on which Alfie is featured, told the EDP Miss Marlowe's story is not uncommon.

She said: “Our website is getting nearly two million hits a month because the problem of dog theft is so rife.

“We helped get 1000 dogs back last year, but many are only coming back after ransoms of up to £8000 have been paid.

“The emotional bond is so great I know people who would sell their houses to get their dog back.”

The website is linked to a nationwide team of helpers, and some of these have been putting up posters in the Yarmouth and Lowestoft areas.

Margaret Boggis, who works in Bells Road Pet Shop, in Gorleston, said she was astonished when the poster was brought in, offering such a large reward, earlier this month.

“I have worked here 10 years and it is the largest reward I have heard of,” she said.

Miss Marlowe had been taking eight dogs on a walk at Saxon Shore nature reserve near her home when Alfie went missing on May 19 last year.

She said: “I was messing around with the others while Alfie was sitting under a tree with my female Yorkie.

“A middle-aged man and woman wearing walking boots, shorts and backpacks passed, and when I could not find Alfie I realised they must have snatched him.”

PC Jim Howe, of the Kent police in Faversham, confirmed a crime report had been made, and that the theft had been investigated as recently as November.

“All inquiries have been completed but we would be keen to hear from anyone with new evidence,” he said.

Miss Marlowe has already spent thousands of pounds on her search, twice placing colour photographs of Alfie in every Kent paper and contacting vets nationwide.

She said: “I used other clairvoyants who were not much good before I went to Jean Tighe.”

Miss Tighe, of Rainham, Kent, said: “I prefer to be called a psychic consultant. Several cat owners have used me in the past, but Alfie is the first dog I have tried to trace.”

Miss Marlowe sent her a photograph and Miss Tighe, a professional clairvoyant for 25 years, even visited the spot where Alfie went missing so she could tune into him psychically.

She used a silver dousing tool over a map to pinpoint the area where he might be, focusing on Lowestoft and neighbouring Yarmouth and Gorleston.

She said: “I strongly feel Alfie is still alive, but I also feel a connection with boats so it is possible he is being moved about.”

Ms Hayes started her website from her home near Worksop, Nottinghamshire, when her miniature French bulldog went missing around two years ago.

It had taken off so spectacularly that she now had a team of helpers and worked 14 hours a day seven days a week.

http://new.edp24.co.uk/content/news/...A39%3A00%3A130

How sad... I hope she finds her baby!!! :(

Oh my thats so sad. I really hope that she will fing her baby.

OH my gosh that is sooo sad. How can people be so cruel??

Wow. I hope Alfie was not stolen and just wandered away to be found by a nice person.

That is a LOT of money.

Poor woman

really sad indeed :(