Transmitter for runaway tortoise

The transmitter is the black lump

Avril Sanders-Royle has had to attach a radio transmitter to Octo's shell so that she can keep up with him.

She said his middle name is Houdini, as he keeps escaping from their garden in Ruyton XI Towns.

The £40 transmitter has a range of 100m. Avril said he escaped yesterday and they were able to find him in a nearby field.

Avril said: "When he's warm, he can really go fast, people are amazed when they see him go."

"It's wonderful"

Octo is a Hermann tortoise from the Mediterranean.

Avril has had him since he was one day old and the size of a golf-ball. He is now 25 years-old and shaped like a large Cornish pasty.

The transmitter, which is fixed to the back of his shell, looks like a black lump and blends in with Octo's markings.

Avril is delighted: "It works, it's wonderful... modern technology saved the day."