A couple who drove more than 2,000 miles to adopt a rescue dog are heartbroken after the pooch was stolen when they got home.
Johanna Kerwien and her fiance, Michael Fox, got the two-year-old Russian bolonka - called Björn - from her mum, who had taken him in after saving him from a Swedish puppy farm but couldn’t care for him herself.
So Johanna, 27, and Michael, 31, drove the 2,361 mile, five-day round trip to her homeland to collect him, and bring him back to their home in Grays, Essex.
In a horrifying twist, Björn was then pinched from Michael’s work van, after the pair parked up at Bluewater Shopping centre, in Dartford, Kent, on Saturday.
Michael and Johanna came to the conclusion that the crooks were after Michael's tools bricklaying, but then found poor Björn inside and snatched him too.
Johanna said yesterday that the pair had been out in the van that morning and needed to pick something up from Bluewater.
The couple nipped in to pick something up from John Lewis and were in the mall for longer than anticipated.
When they came back, they discovered that thieves had smashed their way into the vehicle.
"I was screaming, I just knew what had happened and then saw Björn was missing,” Johanna said.
"The people smashed the window and took him, they also took a laptop and tried getting into the back to steal tools.
"We only care about our baby that we can't live without.
"He's our everything and we would give anything to have home back with us.”
Johanna said their hearts were “broken”.
The couple said Björn is very timid and frightened of people.
"I'm just very scared for him. He will be petrified,” Michael added.
Kent Police are investigating the theft, which happened on Saturday.
