Tortoise hell

A hare-brained tortoise was buried alive under FIFTY tons of rubbish at a dump after going to sleep in a binbag.

Fred's heartbroken owners had given up ever seeing him again.. when he ambled out from among the mountains of junk and was spotted by shellshocked workers.

Owner Jane Deslandes left the sack - containing garden rubbish and a fast-asleep Fred - outside her home in Margate, Kent. It was collected and driven TWENTY miles to a landfill at Canterbury, Kent.

Mrs Deslandes, a mother-of-six, 55, said: "It's the time of year when he's looking for nice warm places to hibernate, so when we couldn't find Fred I realised what must have happened."

Mrs Deslandes phoned the council and was given permission to trawl through waste at the dump. But after crawling over the rubbish for three hours she had to give Fred up for dead.

She said: "I cried all the way back home."

But site workers kept their eyes open for the tortoise - and were stunned when he appeared from beneath a pile of smelly household rubbish just before it was about to be buried.

Fred is now back in the family's garden, munching away on his favourite mix of lettuce and tomatoes.

Jane said: "He was a bit dishevelled with a couple of chips on his shell but otherwise he was okay. The vet said it was a miracle."