A specialist team of pet detectives arrived in Banstead last week hot on the trail of a missing moggy.

George Theonus called in professional search and rescue team, Animal Search UK, when his cat, Foyi, vanished from his home in Tudor Close, Banstead on May 22.

The only uniformed service of its kind in the UK, Animal Search UK arrived fully equipped with walkie-talkies, rescue traps, torches and police style patrol vehicles to carry out a thorough search of the area.

After just one day the misplaced moggy was discovered trapped between two buildings having fallen through a gap in a neighbour’s roof.

Reunited with his owner on Wednesday, Mr Theonus was delighted to have his beloved pet back home.

He said: “I was very happy to find him, otherwise he could have died there.

"It was quite expensive and I had to use a lot of my savings but it was worth it."

Foyi has now made a full recovery from his ordeal.

Launched 12 years ago, the team is led by former police officer Tom Watkins who has more than 18 years of investigative experience.

He said: "Unfortunately, work and family commitments often mean that owners don’t have as much time as they’d like to devote scouring the area looking for their missing pet, and this is one of the ways in which Animal Search UK can help.

"Our professional, uniformed specialist search teams can usually be at any location in the UK within 48 hours, to help owners find a missing pet."

For more information visit animalsearchuk.co.uk