A CRIME-FIGHTING parrot who helped catch a burglar is today missing his special reward treat - because he flew off into the wild six weeks ago.

Charlie, an orange-winged Amazon parrot, sounded the alarm when a burglar entered his owner's Monmouth home one night last summer.

As reported by the Argus earlier today (Monday), Charlie's squawking alerted his sleeping owner, who rushed out and tackled burglar Jake Fletcher as he tried to escape.

Fletcher was arrested soon afterwards, and was jailed last week for two years.

A judge commended Charlie's owner, Emma Dazeley, for her "determination and courage" and awarded her a £500 reward.

But a heartbroken Ms Dazeley, 41, said her "hero" pet of six years had flown off before she had a chance to share the reward with him.

"I was going to give his some cuttlefish - that's his favourite," she said.

"You can get a lot of that for £500.

"But I'm sorry to say that he's not here anymore. He's been gone for weeks now and I really miss him.

"He loved a good squawk and he did the trick that night when the burglar came.

"I know that alerted me to what was going on and that led to him being arrested.

"I did what I needed to do to bring him to justice. I was just trying to protect my home - and Charlie did his bit too."

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Ms Dazeley, who took Charlie in as a rescue bird, appealed for help to find him.

"I wish someone can find him and bring him back to me," she said.

"I hope that with some publicity over his actions might help - maybe somebody is looking after him somewhere."

She added: "He's my hero and I want him back."