Kidnap claim and cross-border hunt for missing cat

A cat found 57 miles (92km) from home and in another country, months after it wandered off, is at the centre of an "abduction" claim.

Harvey regularly disappears from his home on a farm in Borrowdale, Cumbria, and is known to visit - among other places - a house miles away across Derwentwater.

But, when he did not return for eight weeks, owner Anne Cornthwaite noticed his tracker placed him on the other side of England in York, then at Gretna in southern Scotland.

Mrs Cornthwaite said she confronted the owner of Harvey's "other" house who, she claimed, "confessed" to taking Harvey over the border because he had damaged the man's property and attacked his cat.

The BBC has approached the accused man for comment but he did not respond, while Cumbria Police said the matter had not been reported to officers.

However, searchers in Dumfries and Galloway have confirmed they found Harvey in Kirkpatrick-Fleming, north of Gretna, on 4 July.

Owing to his love of travel, Harvey is fitted with a tracker.

It does not record his movements live, but can show his location when he is near a device that can connect to it.

During his latest long absence, Harvey was tracked to several places within a few miles of his home but, on 23 June, he was briefly registered 120 miles (193km) away.

Mrs Cornthwaite explained: "I just happened to check one night on my phone and he suddenly was in York, and I thought that was very odd."

He returned to Cumbria that evening but, three days later, he was on the move again.

"Unbelievably he was in some random location at Gretna, but at that stage I wasn't really thinking he'd been abducted, I just thought maybe the tag was playing up."

Wanting to bring her pet home, Mrs Cornthwaite went to speak to the man Harvey regularly visited.

"When I got there," she said, "he confessed that he'd trapped him and taken him to Gretna and dumped him.

"I was speechless. I couldn't believe that anybody could do something so cruel.

"Then he said 'I'll tell you what he's done and you may change your mind'."

She said he told her Harvey had been fighting with his cat and had injured it so badly it required stitches.

"He was thinking he had done the right thing," Mrs Cornthwaite said, adding the man also claimed Harvey had broken two cat flaps and knocked containers of cat food off shelves.

"He might be guilty of that," she admitted.

Mrs Cornthwaite said the man agreed to take her to the location in Gretna where he had left Harvey.

A search ensued over many days, involving thermal imaging cameras and local volunteers.

One, Lisa Harker from Eastriggs, told BBC Radio Cumbria the cat was finally discovered hiding on a farm.

"I was using a voice recording of Anne and I heard this little meow," the 58-year-old said.

"I'd purchased a red spot light that doesn't frighten animals but lights things up, and there he was."

Mrs Cornthwaite travelled to the farm the following night and lured Harvey out from under a trailer using his favourite treat.

She drove him back to England while her feline passenger "talked all the way home".

"I couldn't believe it was him," she said.

"I was hoping that after being away for such a long time he would still recognise me and he would still come to me.

"It was a perfect ending. I just don't know whether he'll go off again or whether he's had a bit of a shock."

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