Owner’s joy as stolen dog is discovered alive during Norwich drug raid

Jan Spragg delighted to have Petal, her two-year-old Boston Terrier, returned home to Tivetshall St Mary after Petal was stolen and turned up at a police raid in Norwich. Picture: DENISE BRADLEY Archant

A woman is today celebrating the return of her much-loved pet dog after it was stolen in a burglary more than two weeks ago - and found again in an armed raid.

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Jan Spragg delighted to have Petal, her two-year-old Boston Terrier, returned home to Tivetshall St Mary after Petal was stolen and turned up at a police raid in Norwich. Picture: DENISE BRADLEY Jan Spragg delighted to have Petal, her two-year-old Boston Terrier, returned home to Tivetshall St Mary after Petal was stolen and turned up at a police raid in Norwich. Picture: DENISE BRADLEY

Janet Spragg, 50, broke down in tears when she was told that her two-year-old Boston Terrier, called Petal, had been found by police during a drugs raid in Norwich yesterday.

She had feared the worst when burglars ransacked her home in Tivetshall St Mary and stole the animal on September 5.

But after 18 days of searching, Petal was found alive and well at an address on Swanton Road and has now been reunited with her owner.

Mrs Spragg said: “It is an amazing feeling to have her back. Hell could freeze over tomorrow and I wouldn’t care because I have my dog back.

“I was working in my food trailer when I got a call from CID at around 1.30pm saying they had found her. At first I thought they were joking. but when they told me it was definitely her, I just cried.”

Police officers, including armed response units, carried out raids at two addresses in Swanton Road and Easthills Road yesterday morning.

As well as seizing a quantity of cannabis plants and drug paraphernalia, they also found a little black and white Boston terrier.

The animal, which was microchipped, was identified as Petal and subsequently returned to her rightful owner in the afternoon.

Mrs Spragg, a former veterinary nurse at Cherry Tree Vets in Diss said: “She was rather smelly and dirty when I picked her up, and she is a bit quiet, but she has already had a rough and tumble with our other dogs.

“It will take her a couple of days to get into the swing of things, but I’m not letting her out of my sight at the moment.”

In a desperate search to find Petal after she was taken, Mrs Spragg put up posters across the village, appealed through social media for information and even bought a microchip reader.

She knew that her dog was in season, and had planned to try to trace her when she could have given birth to puppies in January.

She added: “When I realised she had been taken, I just sat in a field and cried. She was my little baby.

“The past two weeks have been terrible and it’s like they took a child. I didn’t think they would find her again, but I was not going to give up.”

Following the police operation yesterday, an 18-year-old from the Norwich area was arrested in connection with drug offences.

He remains in custody at Wymondham Police Investigation Centre.

Have you got a story about an unexpected reunion? Email luke.powell@archant.co.uk.

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