A Bradford woman whose beloved pet dog disappeared in Leicestershire a year ago has vowed to carry on making the 200-mile round trip to search for him.

Jill Hawtin has spent almost all her free time and thousands of pounds in an extensive search for border collie Jake, who wandered off from a caravan park in Normanton on Soar near Loughborough, last April.

The dog, who the family adopted in 2011, was at the park with Jill’s father-in-law Gerry.

“He was in the caravan as usual with the top half of the door open,” said Mrs Hawtin, of Tong.

“He must have jumped over the lower half, something he’d never done before.”

Since then the Bradford Council officer, her husband John and daughter Gemma have been joined by an army of helpers from West Yorkshire and Leicestershire, who have scoured the countryside.

“We have been many times during the past 12 months and have been helped by friends, dog rescue centres and many other people – some who have become friends,” said Jill.

“One weekend we returned to Bradford at 7pm and had a call at 9pm with a possible sighting at some allotments, so we drove back and searched through the night.”

The couple and their helpers have leafleted thousands of homes and businesses and their search has been featured in local media.

“Many homes and businesses display his poster, and we have had large roadside posters donated,” Mrs Hawtin said.

Their efforts were recently supported at Crufts where a number of dog rescue charities and pet food manufacturers displayed posters and literature about Jake.

Jake has a Facebook page where he has 600 followers known as ‘JakesSearchers’. His plight has also been raised on Twitter, including comments by former Emmerdale actor James Thornton.

The national search group DogLost has also helped, along with the charity Cause for Paws.

Leaving no stone unturned, the family has even consulted a psychic and special animal communicator in a bid to find their missing pet.

Mrs Hawtin has just returned from another trip to Loughborough following up more reported sightings of Jake, and praises the local people for their continuing help.

“The public have been fantastic, along with fire officers, police officers, postal staff, refuse collectors, council workers and shopkeepers. I want to thank them all. Jake is greatly missed – all we want is for him to come home. We won’t give up.”

  • If you can help call Jill Hawtin on 07886 797849 or go to facebook.com/JakesSearchers