A CAT which embarked on a 100-mile odyssey from Sheffield to Darlington, was reunited with its owner thanks to a microchipping scheme.

No one knows how Merlin the tom cat ended up in the North-East, but it was handed in to an RSPCA centre in Great Ayton, North Yorkshire.

An RSPCA patrol found the animal wandering the streets of Darlington with clumps of hair missing.

The six-year-old cat had vanished from its home in the centre of Sheffield last week.

On Wednesday, Merlin was reunited with his relieved owner, 33-year-old psychology student Annachie Connor, after staff at the animal centre in Great Ayton traced his microchip to the RSPCA hospital in Sheffield.

Debbie Adams, manager of the Great Ayton centre, said: "We have no idea how it got from Sheffield to Darlington but it is a fine example of how microchipping works, as no one would have dreamed a cat that went missing in Sheffield would turn up in Darlington.

"Without a microchip they might never have seen each other again."

Mr Connor, who is also a part-time fitness instructor, said he believed Merlin may have hitched a lift up the motorway in the back of a van or lorry.

The Great Ayton animal centre is holding a micro-chipping weekend on April 13 and 14, when the service will be offered to all pet owners, for half the usual price.