A dog has won a substantial reward for its owner after finding a stolen tortoise - the subject of an appeal in this newspaper last week.

The dog discovered little Winston on Thursday at Epsom’s Hook Road Arena - near where he was snatched during Epsom and Ewell Borough Family Fun Day on Sunday, September 21.

Its owner had seen the appeal in the Epsom Guardian, called up his delighted owners on Saturday and received a "quite substantial" reward.

Winston’s owner Sally Witney, 23, co-founder of animal education charity Darwin Kingdom said they are ecstatic to have their beloved pet back safe and sound. Ms Witney said: "It’s the best feeling in the world. At first we were focused on getting him home.

"It was all hands on deck to see him and hope it was him. There was part of us thinking it might not be him. We did not know what we were walking into."

The four-inch tortoise, who previously survived a deadly illness and requires specialist treatment, was stolen from a stand run by Darwin Kingdom at the fun day.

Ms Witney said they believe the thieves must have dumped him at the arena, adding: "He was found by a lady walking her dog. The dog picked him up.

"She was incredibly lucky to have found him in the first place. We are so grateful that she recognised him in the paper and called us.

"So many people might have kept him and not thought about the consequences."

Winston was very cold and dehydrated on discovery, but he is now on the mend thanks to food, medication and baths.

Ms Witney said: "He’s been getting a lot of TLC from us over the past few days. He’s going to pull through."

As a baby Winston had a "mystery illness", which killed his sister, but he managed to slowly recover thanks to a feeding tube and medication. On the family fun day, Ms Witney said his mesh run was broken into while a large family were grabbing animals and "causing lots of chaos" at the stand.

After the theft, she said they would pay several hundred pounds for his safe return.