West End veteran’s terminally ill is dog returned after celebrity campaign

 
John Fahey with his beloved dog Minnie
Ben Morgan8 December 2014

A stolen dog has been reunited with her owner after a celebrity-backed campaign made her “too hot to handle”.

Two-year-old Minnie was stolen from outside a north London supermarket two weeks ago after her owner John Fahey, 70, went in to buy her some meat as a treat.

Mr Fahey, a veteran West End costume dresser, was terrified Minnie might die without vital medication to treat a life-threatening kidney problem.

A high-profile social media campaign, backed by stars including Rufus Hound, John Barrowman and Amanda Holden, resulted in thousands of tweets and messages of support.

On Saturday, Mr Fahey received a call saying he could get Minnie back if he handed over reward money at a Tube station on Saturday afternoon.

Mr Fahey said: “The person said they had my dog and had seen the posters mentioning a reward.

“I went to the Tube station to meet them and a few minutes later a couple walked towards me with a little dog. I knew instantly it was her.”

Mr Fahey said he assumed the couple were mother and son. They said they had found Minnie “wandering the streets with no collar on”. They said they had been feeding and bathing her, but had not taken her to the vets. Mr Fahey said: “She was subdued and shivering and when we got in the car, she climbed into my lap. I just made such a fuss over her, I was crying.”

Since her return, Mr Fahey has been “inundated” with messages of support from dog lovers around the world.

He said: “I had a lovely email from John Barrowman who was thrilled. I had messages from Australia, New York and California. There were tears at Drury Lane and at Matilda.

“For anyone else who’s had their dog stolen, never give up. It was extremely useful to get word out about Minnie from social media.

“She became too hot to handle... I’m not letting her out of my sight again.”

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