GAZETTE & HERALD: A marauding moggie with a taste for travel has hit the high road again.

Jack, a mischievous Blue Burmese, from Box, who has hitched lifts to tourist hot spots across the southwest, has been missing for a fortnight.

His owner Beverley Hopkins said the popular pedigree pet with a penchant for motorcars has been found as far away as Malmesbury and Marlborough.

But now the 42-year-old mother of two is desperate to get her top cat back and is appealing for anyone who may have spotted Jack on the run to turn him in.

"I am worried about him, but I know if someone finds him they will look after him because he makes you want to look after him," she said.

"I think he's either been hit by a car, stolen or found himself a new home."

Ms Hopkins said the longest Jack has disappeared for was six-and-a-half weeks last September.

She said a considerably thinner Jack eventually turned up in the village of Farrington Gurney, in Somerset.

The Bristol business analyst, from Mill Lane, is convinced that five-year-old Jack has travelled so far because he stows away on board cars and lorries.

She explained that Jack has always loved cars and used to accompany his mistress whenever she took her children to school or if she popped out shopping.

"Do I keep him in a cage or do I allow him his freedom?" Ms Hopkins said. "I have tried, but he is just miserable when he's inside."

But Jack's curiosity about cars has landed him in trouble before and he has been hit twice.

He was knocked down and broke his pelvis when his owner lived in Bradford on Avon, leaving him, said Ms Hopkins, with a slightly 'camp walk.'

Then two years ago, Jack broke his jaw when he collided with a car outside his Box home.

"I am worried about him, but there's nothing you can do about that," said Ms Hopkins.

"I used to worry myself sick, but there's only so many times you can get upset.

"At the end of the day he will ingratiate himself to people wherever he's found, but I want him back because he enhances my life as well."

Jack's cheeky capers are well known in the village, where he is adored by local children.

Ms Hopkins said that her home and the local primary school, where some of Jack's biggest fans can be found, back on to the Box Recreation Ground, where there is a playground.

She said that at the end of the school day Jack makes his way to the playground where he is petted and spoilt by the children.

She said Jack even joins in the fun and enjoys shooting down the playground's slide and scaling up its climbing frame.

Ms Hopkins added that Jack is also an expert cat burglar and if he is out at night and sees an open skylight he cannot resist the temptation.

She says the cat terrified her neighbour's 18-year-old son when he woke up to discover the affectionate animal had broken in to his home and crawled into his bed.

But normally when he's home the mobile hot water bottle sleeps on Ms Hopkins' four-year-old daughter Kamille's bed.

Ms Hopkins has asked that anyone who finds Jack should take him to a vet, who would be able to scan his implanted microchip and then contact her.

"Everyone who has ever found him has always said they were in two minds whether to take him to the vet or keep him," she said.