Stowaway cat rescued on North Sea platform

A stowaway cat who was flown ashore from a North Sea platform has been reunited with his owner - five years after going missing.

The one-eyed cat was discovered on Thursday inside a shipping container that had been shipped from Peterhead.

It emerged he had previously been a regular visitor to HMP Grampian, where prison staff fed him and nicknamed him "one-eyed Joe".

The publicity has now led to the wanderer being identified as Dexter.

The crew of the offshore platform fed their unexpected visitor on chicken from the canteen and called in the Scottish SPCA.

On Friday morning he was flown by helicopter into Aberdeen and handed over to the charity.

Animal rescue officer Aimee Findlay, who collected the cat, said: "We've no idea how the cat ended up there.

"After checking him for a microchip it turns out his real name is Dexter and he has been missing for five years."

She added: "We are so glad that he was well looked after for the time he was missing, but were even more delighted to be able to reunite him with his original owner thanks to his microchip being up to date."

Delighted owner Bridie Dorta told BBC Scotland she was "quite shocked" to have Dexter back.

"He's always been a wanderer," she said. "He went away a few years ago and we never heard anything about him since.

"We never expected him to end up back here."

She hopes to be able to keep Dexter in touch with his fans at the prison.