A PEDIGREE cat has been reunited with its owner after locals stumped up more than £1,000 to fund a rescue mission to find him.

Jimmy, the Lynx Point Bengal, was missing for 11 days but turned up after a fundraising campaign on Facebook pulled together the funds needed to hire professional search party from Animal Search UK who found him in a Royston garden.

Owner Clare Brereton was resistant to asking for money at first but her friends and Facebook fans of Jimmy - who became an internet sensation - persuaded her to launch an appeal and more than £1,000 was raised in four hours.

He turned up after reported sightings of a cat chasing a micro pig in Royston.

** The full story is in the Barnsley Chronicle, dated January 9. **