Lost dogs rescued after thieves go walkies with van
Six pets stolen after driver left vehicle for seconds with its engine running
A VETERAN BBC journalist’s dog was retrieved last night after a van carrying it and five other pets was stolen.
Rory Cellan-jones’s collie, Cabbage, was with its dog walker near the 200-acre Wormwood Scrubs nature reserve in White City, London, when thieves struck.
Brett Holte-smith, 45, from South Africa, had pulled up to knock on his sister-inlaw’s door to see if she could help him walk the dogs.
As he did so he left his engine running and in the time it took to get from the van to the front door, thieves leapt into the vehicle and drove off with the dogs.
One of the abducted canines was Cellan-jones’s 15-year-old rescue pet, which was later found along with four of the others after some of the owners mounted a search around west London.
The van was also found abandoned.
The former BBC technology correspondent, who retired in August after 40 years with the broadcaster, posted a plea for information on social media.
Cellan-jones said: “What one imagines is that they’ll go, ‘Oh. I don’t want all these dogs. Let them out.’
“But you don’t know. So the police have been contacted… they ought to be able to spot the van but I don’t know how much effort they put into that sort of thing.”
As well as Cabbage, the van also contained Bouka, an 11-year-old German shepherd; Bafi, a three-year-old cockapoo; Sam, a light brown Labrador aged 12; and two beagles – Toby, aged between nine and 12, and Bbau, aged between seven and nine.
Sam was the only dog that remained missing last night.
A Scotland Yard spokesman confirmed that police were called at 10.11am yesterday after reports of a van containing six dogs being stolen from Erconwald Street in White City, west London.
No arrests have yet been made.
Cellan-jones, 63, described Mr Holte-smith as a “nice guy” who had been walking Cabbage for seven years. He said he was in a “terrible state” after the incident. He added: “Brett is tearing around this busy street where you can’t really park, you can just hold.
“He leapt out of the car, bangs on somebody’s door, turns around and somebody leapt into the driver’s seat and has driven away with a van.
“So, bam, the dogs disappeared.”
Mr Holte-smith, who walks Cabbage twice a week, said he had never left his van running before to knock on a door. He said: “I wouldn’t take anything from people. I’m definitely not contemplating somebody stealing my van.
“My brain can’t even comprehend. What world are we starting to live in?”