A pair of distraught pet owners have launched their own Crimewatch-style video appeal in a desperate bid to find out who killed their beloved designer dog.
Bijoux, a chow chow husky cross or Chowsky, was found fatally injured by the side of a road after escaping from her owner’s £1million home at around 10pm on June 29.
A mystery motorist stopped and picked up the black and grey dog and took her to a vet 10 miles away.
Sadly Bijoux was pronounced dead and her owners, Ian Clague, 62, and Dominika Sojka, 34, were given the devastating news after the vets scanned her for a microchip.
Mr Clague, a businessman who owns and runs an engineering company, and Miss Sojka have urged the police to investigate the ‘hit and run’ but it hasn’t led to anything so far.
Bijoux, a chow chow husky cross or Chowsky, was found fatally injured by the side of a road after escaping from her owner’s £1million home at around 10pm on June 29
Her owners Ian Clague and Dominika Sojka have launched a Crimewatch-style video appeal in a bid to find out how Bijoux died
Ian and Dominika have put incident posters up around the area
The couple have now been forced to spend £2,250 on hiring professional pet detective Colin Butcher to find out what exactly happened to Bijoux.
He has made a three minute Crimewatch-style video appealing for witnesses who were in the area at the time Bijoux was found to come forward. The footage also includes a direct appeal from a devastated Miss Sojka.
Posters have also gone up around the affluent Talbot Woods suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, carrying a photo of the dog. The text on it reads: ‘Our dog Bijoux was killed in a hit and run accident near here. Did you see anything?’
So far Mr Butcher has found a witness who saw the aftermath of the collision.
A white or silver car stopped close to a pedestrian crossing on Talbot Avenue, about 250 yards from her home.
The witness has reported hearing a dog howling outside her home and she rushed out to find a smartly-dressed couple stood in the road looking down at the ground in front of their car.
Miss Sojka has appealed for the couple to come forward.
Miss Sojka, a private jet broker, said: ‘Not knowing what happened to Bijoux is haunting me.
‘Was the man who took her to the vets the person who hit her.
‘I just want answers. Did she suffer? Did she died peacefully? Was she in pain? I want them to tell me how Bijoux spent the last minutes of her life so I can have some closure.
‘I just want then to call me and share that information. Until I know what happened I will spend every night wondering.
‘I am not blaming them for what happened but them not coming forward has meant we have had to hire someone to investigate it. It is costing a lot of money.
Miss Sojka, a private jet broker, said: ‘Not knowing what happened to Bijoux is haunting me’
Bijoux on holiday in Paris before she was killed on June 29
Clague and Sojka hired pet detective Colin Butcher to find out what happened to their pup. So far Mr Butcher has found a witness who saw the aftermath of the collision
It is not known if the man who took the nine-month-old dog to the vets had knocked her over in his car.
Although he left his details with the vets data protection laws have prevented them from passing on his name or contact number to Mr Clague and Miss Sojka.
If Bijoux had been struck by a car the motorist did not report it to the police, which is an offence under the 1988 Road Traffic Act and punishable by a maximum fine of £5,000.
Mr Clague and Miss Sojka, who are engaged, paid a dog breeder £2,000 for Bijoux when she was 10-weeks-old.
In the short time they had her the couple got her a pet passport and took her on holiday to Paris, the South of France, Italy and Scotland.
Mr Butcher said as a result of his investigations he believes the dog snuck through a gap in a hedge to chase after a fox.
Bijoux ran from her home on Glenferniss Avenue onto Talbot Avenue where she was struck by the car.
Miss Sojka said: ‘I just burst into tears when I was told she had died. It was absolutely devastating.
‘She was just nine months old and was such a unique, gentle-natured dog.’
The couple have also paid a pet cloning company to take samples of Bijoux’s DNA so they can clone her and create an almost identical dog.
Mr Butcher, who has been recovering stolen and missing pets for 30 years, said: ‘We got our dog Molly to follow Bijoux’s harness’s scent which took us down the path to the main road.
‘We believe Bijoux was chasing a fox down the path to Talbot Avenue and they were both struck by a car at the same time.
‘Bijoux’s family are asking for help in discovering whether this is a tragic accident.
‘It is really important we help give the owners closure at what is a very difficult time for them.’