Twiglet returned to millionaire owners as viral CCTV left stolen puppy ‘too hot to handle’

Essex Police decline to say whether dog might have been stolen for ransom

Disturbing viral footage showing a masked man snatching a puppy from a millionaire’s home made the miniature dachshund "too hot to handle", the pet's owners have said.

A nationwide hunt was launched for 16-month-old Twiglet after a thief wielding a hammer was caught on CCTV stealing the dog from a family’s Essex home on Wednesday.

Pet owners across the country were shocked when footage showed Twiglet squirming to try to evade the intruder, who had smashed a patio door to get in.

At one point the burglar, dressed as a delivery driver in a high-vis jacket, appeared to clamp the dog’s jaws shut to prevent barking.

Owners Jamie Vindis, managing director of car dealership Vindis Group Limited, which made £21m in 2021, and his wife Jo were overjoyed when Twiglet was returned after a good deed by someone who had been offered the pet for sale.

A well-wisher bought Twiglet for £700 and tipped off the owners (PA)

Mr Vindis said he was contacted on Facebook on Thursday by someone who had seen the publicity but pretended not to realise it was Twiglet and paid £700 for the dog.

He wrote that he thought the media exposure had left Twiglet “too hot to handle” for a thief to hang on to.

Essex Police declined to comment on whether the dog had been targeted and stolen for ransom, saying they were still investigating.

Mrs Vindis told MailOnline she did not think Twiglet had been specifically targeted. But she said: “I don’t think it could have been entirely opportunistic. He must have been looking at the properties and saw no one was in.

“It is quiet, rural and there is not a lot of through traffic. The idea that it could have been a dognapping did go through my mind, but we didn’t get a ransom note or anything like that so I don’t think so.”

The dog was stolen in Saffron Walden (PA)

Twiglet was running around the family garden in Saffron Walden and seemed to be “back to her normal self” by Friday morning, she added.

The couple and their two children, 12 and 14, were reunited late on Thursday with their puppy.

The family, who paid £2,000 for the dog during lockdown, say Twiglet is “very loving, very affectionate”.

After collecting the pet from Bedfordshire, Mr Vindis, 47, wrote on Facebook: “Everyone… we have the most amazing news… Twig is home!!!

“She’s a little subdued by the whole experience but a tip-off this evening (via FB) from someone that had seen all of the publicity and awareness, has meant we were able to be reunited about 11pm.”

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He said they could not thank everyone enough for all of the posts and reposts that made her “too hot to handle”.

“We are blown away by how amazing people have been and want to thank you all so, so much.”

Police have appealed for witnesses or anyone with information on the break-in.

Pets are treated as inanimate property in law, but animal-welfare campaigners have been lobbying the government to honour a 2021 promise to make pet abduction a separate offence.

The government has dropped the Kept Animals Bill, which would have recognised the emotional distress caused by dognapping and would have allowed for harsher sentences.