A dog stolen during a burglary was returned to her overjoyed owners after an internet campaign championed by Hampstead celebrities and dog lovers alike.

Molly the pug became the unwitting star of social networking frenzy after her distraught owners found their Crouch End flat ransacked by burglars and the beloved pooch nowhere to be found last Friday (January 6).

Molly’s owner Caitriona Fox, 27, a health project manager for the NHS, said: “The first question we asked was ‘Where’s Molly?’.

“I was beyond hysterical. I was screaming and crying. I couldn’t go back inside the house.”

Taking inspiration from similar campaigns, Miss Fox and her boyfriend turned to the web and asked celebrity dog owners to reTweet their plea for help to find Molly.

Among those who offered support were Hampstead local Jonathan Ross, Bianca Jagger, and Gavin and Stacey actress Sheridan Smith, who herself turned to Twitter when her pet Shar-Pei was stolen from her Crouch End home and returned last year.

Messages flooded in by the dozen, and soon there were hundreds of Tweets, two hundred posters and a Facebook group dedicated to finding Molly. Even the BBC reported on the appeal.

The publicity worked and Molly was safely returned to her owners by a woman who found the puppy wondering through Enfield Park and matched her to the photos posted online on Sunday (January 8).

On learning of Molly’s safe return, Sheridan Smith Tweeted: “With all the twitter love tonight & the fact that Molly is safe & home again I might cry!”

Molly, nicknamed “The Puggie Bank” after eating �1.04 worth of coins last year, was welcomed home by her owner’s extended family and a good deal of tears.

“Everyone was screaming and crying,” said Miss Fox, who lives in Stapleton Hall Road. “Molly was excited but then she passed out. She’s been quite nervous, but then she got into bed with us. She’s not normally allowed to sleep in out bed because she snores.”

She thanked the many online supporters who helped bring Molly home.

“We are completely speechless,” she said. “We have had the most amazing, awe-inspiring reaction.”