Kitten kidnapped from MP's mistress found

BIRMINGHAM, England, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- A kitten kidnapped from a member of the British Parliament's mistress by his estranged wife has been found -- and now she has kittens of her own.

Liberal Democrat John Hemming said he got a call Friday from a Birmingham woman who has been caring for the missing cat for almost a year, The Daily Telegraph reported. Sheila Bates said the kitten she called Kitten showed up on her doorstep on a snowy November day, frightened and hungry.

Hemming said the cat has been positively identified as the missing Beauty. She spent a night with Hemming, his former personal assistant Emily Cox and their daughter.

But he returned Beauty to Bates because she is clearly a nursing mother.

"I noticed that she was getting fatter and fatter. I thought it was probably because she was getting twice as many meals than she should," she said. "But one day she came in and she was a lot thinner and I knew what had happened. I'm not sure where she's had them but I think it's probably an abandoned shed or garage."

Christine Hemming was given a 9-month suspended sentence Friday for stealing Beauty from Cox's yard and releasing her.

Bates said the publicity about the sentencing led to her identifying Kitten as Beauty.