Clitheroe owner's delight after cat found six months after going missing and more than 30 miles away from home

Forty-four-year-old Fiona Waring and her son James, who lives at home, were distraught when her kitten Marley went missing back in August last year.

"We'd only had him about five months and he'd only been going outside for a few weeks after having his injections and being micro chipped," said Fiona, who lives on Causeway Croft in Clitheroe and has two sons, James and Liam.

"It was so out of character when he went missing as he never used to venture very far, but this particular day the back door must have been open as it was a nice day and Marley was out back. The next minute, he had vanished!"

Following his disappearance, Fiona distributed missing cat posters around the area and posted them on social media sites, to no avail.

So it was a major shock when Fiona, who works with children with autism, got a phone call from Andrew Mellor Veterinary Surgeons in Thornton-Cleveleys saying that they had Marley and could trace him back to Fiona because he had been micro chipped.

Marley, now one, had been taken to the vets by a member of the public after he had been run over and left to die.

"I'd love to be able to thank this lady for taking Marley to the vets and I'm just in the process of trying to find out who she is," said Fiona, who is a former pupil of Ribblesdale High School.

Marley suffered a broken leg in the accident and, although he is back home in Clitheroe with Fiona, has to be kept in a cage until his leg heels.

"He's already itching to get out of the cage and it's really hard not being able to cuddle him properly," said Fiona who added that she's intrigued to know how he ended up more than 30 miles away when he went missing.

"I'd love to have a film of the past six months of his life," said Fiona. "We're thinking he maybe got into a van or a car that was heading that way, but who would know. He had a new collar on when he was found so he had obviously been looked after."