A STANFORD-le-Hope man has been hailed a hero by the local community after coming to the rescue of a lost dog, making sure he was safe and then tracking down his owner.

Warehouse operative and former Hassenbrook School student Denny Martin, 23, from Allensway, Corringham, was on his way home after a night out with friends on Monday evening when he came across an elderly dog that was clearly lost and in some distress in the Cornwall Crescent area of Corringham.

Denny approached the dog and, after some initial distrust from the pet, the two formed a bond. He immediately put out messages on social media asking if anyone in the area knew the dog's owner.

Denny stayed with the dog, which he now knows is 12 years old, in the cold and rain and after a couple of hours someone alerted him that dog might be called Bailey, a pet who had been found and recovered from the Branksome Avenue area on Christmas Eve. Thinking it might be the same animal, Denny decided to act. However, after walking to Branksome in the rain and tracking down Bailey's owner Ann Gardner, it turned out that Denny's new found friend, who he had named 'Tufty' was not Ann's.

At that point Denny, who had drawn a blank in trying to get help from the dog warden service, decided to take 'Tufty' home.

Denny, who has his own dog Tyson, takes up the story: "I first saw the dog around half 12 at night and he was so frightened of everything and other people who were trying to help at first, as well as me.

"He was nearly hit by two motorists.

"It then took me a couple of hours to get a stroke off him and I began to gain his trust. The milkman came along and I bought him a couple pints of milk and we shared it together.

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"I got told his name was Bailey and lived at Branksome so we set off to see if we could find his home.

"All the way from Abbots Drive to Branksome, he never left my side. He was such a great and brave dog and he listened well to me. It almost seemed like we had known each other forever.

"When we arrived at Branksome I was sure that he would've shown me which door he lived at but after walking past every house four times I then didn't know what to do.

"It was raining and freezing cold so we took a sit down. He was shivering so much so I took both of my jackets off and wrapped him up and cuddled him to keep him dry and warm for another hour and a half whilst shouting for help but nobody came.

"It turned out in the end that the owner of a dog called Bailey who was lost last week already had Bailey back. My phone had died after I put up my last post on Facebook and then decided to just take him home as I was due to go to work.

"On the way home we stopped at the shop got him a tin of food and then went home got him nice and warm and fed and watered.

"The following day I was so grateful to Sue Garrad from Pippas Army volunteer animal recovery service came to help to see if he was chipped and he was. Thanks to her and a lot of amazing people on my post we managed find out who the owners were and he was finally reunited with his mum who came to get him around 11 to 12 o'clock this afternoon (Tuesday, 28 December).

"I found out his real name is Busta. He is of the bravest dogs I've known to withstand all that with me last night and I found out also from his owner that he has stomach cancer which makes me adore him even more.

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"The owner has promised to keep in touch with me and let me know how he gets on."

News of Busta's safe return was reported on social media and there has been an huge outpouring of praise from local people for Denny, who has nevertheless played down his role, telling Nub News: "I'm just a normal bloke who loves dogs. I am just so pleased that this brave dog is now safe home and loved. That's enough for me."