The owners of a ‘valuable’ cat who feared he had been stolen are celebrating this week after their beloved pet returned home in Beaconsfield.

Dr Graham Hine, from Sandelswood End, had been desperately searching for his much-loved family pet Ollie, a lilac-coloured British Blue pedigree cat, after he went missing on January 30 - distributing more than 100 letters through residents’ doors, putting up over 50 posters across the town and making announcements at Sunday services in St Michael’s Church.

Dr Hine and his wife Renata also hired pet detective Colin Butcher after the Bucks Free Press put them in contact, and said he was ‘amazing’ at helping to work out Ollie’s movements.

He said: “Colin spent all day in Beaconsfield on Friday and he was amazing. He spoke to lots of people and established where all the local cats lived and worked out their territories.

“He concluded Ollie was probably still alive and that he had been scared from his territory by a local Tom. He even deduced the area where Ollie was likely to be living.

“Lots of people joined the search, some from as far away as High Wycombe. Both Renata and I were so happy that so many people wanted to help. Many of the shops in Beaconsfield put a picture of Ollie in their windows – there was real sense of community.”

Dr Hine thinks that Ollie, who was found when they heard him meowing in their neighbour's garden more than a week after going missing, had been “looked after very well” and may have been adopted by a resident who thought he was a stray.

He said: “When they realised that Ollie was really missed, perhaps they let him go. We are so happy to have him home.”