Rescuers '˜totally broken' as Portsmouth Corgi-cross Freddie is found dead

Sources close to Freddie, a missing Corgi-cross recently saved from a Romanian kill shelter, confirmed he was found dead near Portsmouth this afternoon.

The tragic discovery – along the railway line leading to Cosham Station – follows more than a fortnight of searching, after he went missing from his new-found Hampshire home between Monday and Tuesday, April 2 and 3.

After appeals in The News and on social media, hundreds of pet owners and lovers across the region united in a bid to find him following his escape – believed to have been through a cat-flap.

And it was Emily Woolger, 51 and her partner Sean Restall, 50, who rescued Freddie and had planned to adopt him after he was spared death and brought to the UK by Poole-based charity Love4Dogs.

After receiving news of the find yesterday, Ms Woolger said: ‘I am totally broken and I feel guilty – I was very fond of Freddie.

‘But I have been absolutely amazed by the reaction to our appeal to find him and Sean and I have made some friends for life because of it.

‘People came out every single day searching and I am so thankful for that.’

Love4Dogs volunteer Marcene Fowler, said: ‘There is no one to blame for this.

‘We all truly thought Freddie would come home, but never in these circumstances.

‘We are now going to take time to remember him.’