MISSING MAN FOUND SAFE AND WELL

A man who went missing last week has turned up safe and well.

Willy Standing, who left his home last Friday to buy a newspaper, was taken into Froghill Police Station at just after 8 this morning. He was covered in bird droppings, feathers and small animal bones but otherwise appeared to be in good shape.

“He was in a right old mess and he was a bit confused,” said Sergeant Harry Parsnip.

“So we cleaned him up as best we could and gave him a cup of tea, but he seemed to be having trouble getting it down.

"Then he sicked up a vole.”

Standing, 54, of Bessels Close, Cheetingham, later told police that he had been abducted by birds of prey while on his way to the newsagent.

He recounted how a pair of white-tailed eagles had swooped down and grasped him by the shoulders, lifting him off his feet and carrying him away.

They took him to their nest in an oak tree on Traubert’s Heath.

Once there, he was kept captive by the birds, who fed him beak to mouth and seemed intent on raising him as if he were their own chick.

Mr Standing was discovered early this morning by an ornithologist, who alerted the police after spotting a limp hand hanging out of the nest.

Rita Standing, told by the Observer of her husband’s ordeal, said: “Eagles? What again? 

"That's the third time in the last two years.”