Beloved pet Yorkshire terrier snatched by irate woman motorist in case of canine crime that shocked family

FOR the villagers who live on the Farndale Estate on the North York Moors, Wookie the Yorkshire terrier has become a familiar sight while pottering around the country lanes.

But the beloved seven-year-old pet has vanished after he became the victim of a harrowing case of canine crime when he was dog-napped by an irate motorist.

The woman driver stormed down the path of the house where Wookie lives with his owners, the Wilson family, on the picturesque country estate before snatching the dog after he had run into the road in front of her car.

The blonde motorist, thought to be in her 20s or 30s, confronted 14-year-old Ollie Wilkinson, the son of the Farndale Estate’s owner Peter Wilkinson, who was about to put Wookie in his kennel.

After angrily rebuking the teenager, she grabbed the dog and threw him in her car before driving off.

Estate gamekeeper Paul Wilson and his wife Alison have been left stunned by the dog-napping and revealed their children, Ross, 11, and two-year-old Katie, have been left inconsolable at the loss.

The couple said Wookie was a “lovable, harmless pet” who often strolls a mile to the local pub, the Feversham Arms in Farndale, to greet the locals.

Mrs Wilson, 29, a hairdresser, said: “Paul was working and I was at a friend’s, so we have another gamekeeper in charge.

“Ollie was on his school holidays helping out the gamekeeper by painting a fence when this woman stormed over to him complaining that Wookie had run out into the road.

“Ollie grabbed Wookie by the scruff of his neck and told her he would put him in a kennel. But she shouted ‘you shouldn’t pick dogs up like that’ even though that is the way you should, as that’s how their mothers pick them up.

“She then started really screaming abuse at him, swearing at him, saying: ‘Why aren’t you looking after him?’

“She must have thought we were being cruel to him, which is ridiculous. We have seven dogs and love them all.

“She then grabbed Wookie from our driveway and put him in the passenger seat and drove off in a small red car. Apparently there was also an alsatian in the back.

“Ollie came to tell the gamekeeper and he was in floods of tears.”

Mrs Wilson and her 30-year-old husband are baffled by the bizarre theft and have contacted North Yorkshire Police, but because Ollie was too distraught to get the getaway car’s registration number, officers have admitted there is little they can do.

Mrs Wilson added: “He’s such a friendly dog and he actually has great road sense. He’s not a daft dog. Because it’s really quiet round here, he has licence to roam about. We get lots of walkers and he goes up to greet them.

“Our son has been crying himself to sleep. He (Wookie) is a big part of the family and we are all absolutely devastated. We are so worried because whenever we go away he gets really upset so he must be terrified.

“We are convinced it isn’t anyone local who has taken Wookie because so many people know him.

“We do try to keep him in the garden area but he has been known to go down to the local which is about a mile away. He is so friendly – a lovely little character.

“It’s a bizarre story especially coming so soon after a woman was caught on CCTV in Coventry putting a cat in a wheelie bin. We just want him back and want to appeal to anyone who might have seen him or seen anything strange.”

The family, who moved down to Yorkshire from Scotland last year, have had Wookie for five years after one of Mrs Wilson’s customers gave him to her.

Wookie has been fitted with an electronic chip, but he will only be located if the dog-napper takes him to a vet and he is scanned.

He also has an identification disc on his collar with his home phone number printed on it.

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