FRED the tortoise is heartbroken after his beloved "wife" of ten years disappeared.

Wilma is believed to have been stolen from the garden of a home in Elmfield Road, Chingford, on May 22.

The couple have been together for ten years after first meeting when they were a few months old. Despite not being able to have any offspring, they have been inseperable ever since, with doting Fred happy to love honour and obey the headstrong Wilma.

Now the couple, who are named after characters in The Flintstones cartoon, have been seperated, their owners are desperate to see them reunited.

Natalie Laws, 42, of Longshaw Road in Chingford, said: "They're in love, of course they are.

"They're normally quite solitary animals but these two aren't. They're together all the time, they're so close.

"Fred's been frantically running round the garden looking for her and he's much more sombre these days. "He's not coping well at all. He followed her everywhere, he pandered to her every need."

The Hermann's tortoises lived with Miss Laws' former partner Eddie Portelli.

Miss Laws and her daughter Alana Harding would regularly visit to see their pets, but were horrified to hear of Wilma's sudden disappearance.

They are now calling for help to trace her whereabouts and have posted flyers through letterboxes, but her disappearance remains a mystery.

Miss Laws added: "She just vanished when she was strolling round the garden, we couldn't find her and our neighbours hadn't seen her.

"We're really upset, she's a member of the family really and we're worried what's happened to her or where she's got to."

If you have any information on Wilma, email the owners on lanax@hotmail.co.uk.

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