A family say they are devastated after a woman paid to look after their dog while they were on holiday disappeared after she had told them their dog had gone missing.

When Filippa Mondlane, 24, and her sister travelled to Mozambique to see their father for Christmas, they did not want to place their beloved pet in a kennel.

Instead, they found a pet sitter for Jack Russell Scarlet through website Holidog. 

They hired a woman called Rose, who charged around £300 for the three weeks they were away.

However, when they returned on Sunday, they were told by the sitter the dog had gone missing from her back garden.

When they attempted to get in touch with her for further details, the phone number did not work.

They then discovered the address she had provided was a Co-op store.

Miss Mondlane, 24, of Barclay Road in Walthamstow, said she has been left in shock.

“We got a message from her when we were coming back but she said it was in hand and she was putting up posters and calling everyone," she said.

“When we arrived home we were really upset because we couldn’t see proof of that anywhere.

“We began calling her and the number was not registered anymore.

“It is literally devastating. We are looking and putting up posters but we have no clue if she is even from this area, they could be anywhere.

“It is so surreal. This person we met could not even really exist.

“She seemed like a normal person who really loved dogs – now we are left in this situation.”

The police and Holidog have been notified.

Hieu Nguyen from Holidog said the company has been in constant contact with the owners and notified the police.

He said: "As soon as we found out we contacted the pet-sitter. At first she told us she had lost the dog but then we could not reach her after that.

"We are offering the owners a refund and we are doing all we can to help.

"We do carry out checks on our pet-sitters so we are working on tracking the pet-sitter down."