Somerset pet owner 'shaken' by suspected dog theft attempt

Avril Edwards was walking Honeybee and Willow in West Huntspill when she was approached by two men

A woman confronted by two men she suspected of trying to steal her dogs says she is now scared to go out alone.

Avril Edwards, 76, from Highbridge in Somerset, was walking Honeybee and Willow in West Huntspill on Saturday when she said she was "ambushed".

The men came at her from "both directions" and one tried to tempt her two collie-Labrador crosses away.

She managed to get herself and the dogs back in her car and Avon and Somerset Police said it was aware of the case.

"Stood watching me'

Mrs Edwards had parked in a lay-by to take the dogs for a walk by the river at about 09:20 BST.

She started on her walk when she became aware of a man walking slowly down the road.

"Every time I stopped, he stopped. Every time I moved he moved, so I got a bit worried."

As a precaution she stopped behind some bushes, hoping the man would go on his way, but she said after "waiting and waiting", she "panicked" and started to walk back towards her car.

"He was just stood on the road watching for me," she said.

"I started to walk back wondering what to do, and then I saw another man walking towards me."

Mrs Edwards said the men were pretending to offer the dogs something to tempt them away from her

Mrs Edwards said she then made a "dash" to her car and threw open the boot for the dogs to jump in.

"They were coming from two different directions. I felt ambushed. I was positive one of them was coming towards the boot of the car to get the dogs out.

'Friends, security, company'

Once she had pulled away she stopped to warn other dog walkers, then called the police.

"I felt very threatened personally, but I assume they were after the dogs as … the first guy was actually bending down and clicking at the dogs, encouraging them to come towards him."

"I am quite an independent person and to be threatened in a public place, it really upset me.

"The dogs mean a lot to me. They're my friends, my security, my company. I would have been appalled to lose them."

Avon and Somerset Police confirmed their officers were called by a woman reporting two men acting suspiciously at a car park in West Hunstpill, and said the neighbourhood policing team was also aware of the case.