Caroline Smith got an “amazing” birthday surprise when her missing dog, Star, was returned by the local dog warden.

It's not the first time the Smith family have been reunited with their much loved pooch. Star was stolen at knifepoint seven years ago and returned after an appeal in the Hackney Gazette.

"She went missing about three days before her ninth birthday and came back the day before my birthday so we had a few joint celebrations. My daughter bought her one of those foot-long bone things - she enjoyed that," said Caroline.

The dog's owner is "not 100 per cent" sure what happened to the family pitbull, whose suspected theft was reported in the Gazette last month, but was told by the dog warden that someone from Haringey, which isn't too far from her home in Clapton, handed Star in on July 22. They'd had her for three days.

Whether Star was indeed stolen or simply got lost remains a mystery.