A tortoise found roaming a Rainham building site has been reunited with its owner after a Recorder appeal.

Maxine McCauley collected her pet from the RSPCA on Friday (25) after a friend alerted her to an article on our website.

Tommy the tortoise, previously thought to be female and nicknamed ‘Shellie’ by charity workers, had been gone for a week when he was discovered on the site at Mardyke Farm.

Maxine said: “I went mad when I found he was missing, I never expected to find him again.

“It was pure luck that somebody saw the article and let me know.”

Tommy escaped through an open gate in Maxine’s garden in Betterton Road and walked over 90 acres of fields before reaching the building site.

Construction workers handed him to the Essex, Havering and Harold Hill branch of the RSPCA on May 17 and he stayed with staff members while they appealed for an owner to come forward.

Tommy is now healthy and happy back at home.

Maxine plans to have him microchipped so she can trace him if he goes on any more adventures.