A FAMILY say they have been left baffled and upset by the theft of their much-loved Yorkshire terrier by a motorist who bundled him into a car outside their remote home.

Paul and Alison Wilson said the woman had apparently complained that she had nearly run over seven-year-old Wookie on a country road in Farndale, on the North York Moors.

Mr and Mrs Wilson said the driver was abusive to the 14-year-old son of the local estate owner as he was about to put the dog in a kennel.

The angry woman approached him and then left with Wookie in her car.

The family has compared the incident, which happened a week ago, with the case of Mary Bale, who was caught on CCTV throwing a cat into a bin in Coventry, sparking widespread outrage.

Hairdresser Mrs Wilson, 29, told how she and her gamekeeper husband had not been at home at the time and the woman approached the teenager, who was painting a fence.

She said he was so stunned he did not get a registration number, but he did see an Alsatian dog in the car.

She said the incident has been particularly hard on her two children, Ross, 11, and two-year-old Katie, who have been crying themselves to sleep.

She said: “We are convinced it isn’t anyone local who has taken Wookie because so many people know him.

“We do try to keep him in the garden area, but he has been known to go down to the Feversham Arms, which is about a mile away.

“He is so friendly – such a lovely little character.”

The woman was aged about 20 to 30, with blonde hair and was driving a small red car.