Three-month-old kitten Beauty had secretly crept inside owner Helen Wilmore's suitcase as she packed it for the trip to visit her cousin.

But heartbreakingly it means Beauty may never be able to return home to West Yorkshire due to the high costs of getting her back to the UK.

Despite rigorous security checks at Leeds-Bradford and Schiphol airports, the evasive black kitten remained undetected.

Shocked Helen, 36, from Bradford, said: "We'd been travelling for about 21 hours when I finally got round to opening my suitcase and out popped the cat.

"I couldn't believe it and I still can't take it in now how she managed to survive being stuck in there all that time - she must have used up quite a few of her nine lives."

Cat-lover Helen added: "We'd been delayed at Leeds-Bradford Airport for about 15 hours and Beauty had been in the luggage for that time and she'd been in the hold the whole time, probably with other suitcases being thrown on top of her.

"I'm thinking I should rename her Lucky."

But Beauty's luck looks as if it is about to come to an end as Helen has been forced to hand her over to a cat sanctuary.

"The cousin who I was staying with isn't allowed cats so I had no choice but to take her to a cat sanctuary.

"It would be at least six months because of quarantine before I could get her back but she'd have to have lots of jabs and rabies checks, then I'd have to get her a passport and pay for her to be flown back - I just can't afford it."

A spokesperson at Leeds-Bradford International Airport said its security company G4S had been informed and were investigating.

But he added: "The passenger's suitcase will have gone through the checks and processes that are in place to screen hold luggage.

"This process is designed to detect items that may prove a threat to aircraft. An animal would would not be detected by the system as it would not be deemed as a threat."