Robert Mortimer has been reunited with Barney, his African grey parrot, nine years after the bird was stolen during a burglary at his home in 2017. The discovery matters because Barney was identified through his microchip after apparently being abandoned, enabling his owner to recover a pet he had long assumed was gone.

After the burglary, Mortimer put up local posters and offered a £500 reward, but received no useful sightings. Barney was eventually found hopping around an Ikea car park about 20 miles away; staff at an animal rescue centre traced his identity from the microchip, despite his registered telephone number no longer working.