A HIGH-TECH computer chip has finally brought home Ben the black cat -- after more than two years wandering!

Ben was living at the RSPCA shelter, Altham, when he was adopted by Elsie Walmsley and her son Jamie five years ago.

But he had only been with the family 18 months when Jamie fell out of a tree and smashed his arm. Elsie spent almost a week in hospital with him and could only pop back occasionally to their home in Lynwood Avenue, Darwen.

Elsie said: "He had always been very affectionate and he used to walk with me down the road when I went to get the bus every morning.

"When I came home I would call him and he would appear to walk back with me. But when we were all away, he disappeared."

Elsie called all the local vets, the RSPCA shelter and advertised for him but no-one had seen him.

So she was astonished when she got a phone call last week asking if an injured black cat belonged to her. Jon Kerrigan, collection officer for the RSPCA, found Ben suffering from an infected wound just off Livesey Branch Road, Blackburn, and took him to Abbeydale vets, Blackburn, for treatment.

As all adopted cats from the RSPCA are fitted with a tiny microchip before they are rehomed, the vet found the chip when he scanned Ben's neck. They soon traced Elsie through the national computer database Pet Log. Now Ben has been returned to Lynwood Avenue where he is settling in and making friends with the family's two new cats. Elsie isn't sure whether he remembers the family or not, but he is just as affectionate.

She said: "When he went missing, everybody said I shouldn't hold out too much hope. But I always thought he would turn up sooner or later, and I always kept all his things." Jon said: "Very often we can't reunite pets with their owners, but the microchipping system really does work."

Microchipping costs around £20 and can be done by most vets.