Family left devastated in A&E as treasured pet rabbits escape from hutch.

At 8am on Friday morning, Jane Featherstone (38) ventured into her garden with the intention of feeding breakfast to her daughters’ rabbits, ‘Romeo’ and ‘Duncan’. A crisp morning, but even crispier were the leaves of sweet, ripe lettuce Mrs Featherstone was about to feed the precious pets. Little did she know of the horror she would be greeted by.

Witnesses reported a panic stricken shriek erupted from No.22 around 8:01am, which caused the alarm to be raised. Within seconds she was joined by her husband, John Featherstone (43) who, in his rush to get ready for work and attend to his frantic wife, was caught out by the spotlessly clean conservatory door, striking his head against the glass and falling unconscious.

The quandary Mrs Featherstone found herself in was devastating. Does she begin the search for her daughters’ precious rabbits, or does she attend to the casualty of her precious husband? As Mr Featherstone lie cold and still on the utility room floor, an animated Mrs Featherstone quickly scanned the garden like an eagle, looking for movement of Romeo and his accomplice.

By 8:02am, Mrs Featherstone, gave up hope of finding the rabbits, and so began frantically rummaging through the haphazard kitchen cupboards for smelling salts to revive her unconscious husband.

A sharp knock at the front door startled Mrs Featherstone, who, amidst the confusion and panic of the situation, quickly turned to answer the knocking, but not before striking her head against the open cupboard door.

The knocking continued, becoming more forceful with each thrust, but such was the deep slumber of the unconscious Featherstones, the couple did not stir.

As the knocking neighbours at the front door grew more concerned, their perpetual knocking awoke the Featherstone daughters, Jessica (7) and Genevieve (9). As their rabbit pattern pyjama laden legs lazily made their way down the stairs, the sight of the daughters’ parents lumpy heads and cascading bodies across the floor sparked a chorus of ghastly screams from the two little girls. The knocking neighbours changed tact upon hearing the distress of the girls, and witnesses have reported as many as four grown men were gathered at the front door, attempting to bash it down.

Following the neighbours’ successful entrance to the Featherstone house, the police were soon called to the scene by one of the Featherstones’ concerned neighbours. PC Plod-Jones described the situation he was greeted with as baffling.

"In all my years in the force, I must say I’ve never seen anything quite like it before."

The parents’ bodies on the floor, the girls startled, afraid and confused, the constables immediately became suspicious of a domestic abuse/homicide case on their hands, and quickly removed the girls from the scene and ticker-taped the Featherstones’ house with police tape as they awaited the arrival of an ambulance.

"Keeping the public safe and calm is our top priority"

Upon interviewing the two girls, the police established that within a few minutes at around 8am, a series of events occurred including a shriek, a thud, a bout of knocking, and another loud thud. While the stationary couple were inspected by a team of paramedics for signs of wounds, the police made decisive moves to bring in back-up incase the parents’ injuries were inflicted by an intruder. The paramedics were given clearance to remain onsite, but all other persons were cleared as SWAT scoured the premises for signs of a third party.

By 9:30am, the Featherstone house was given the all-clear with regards to unknown persons in the building, and forensics were allowed to enter and began dusting for possible prints left by the potential mystery intruder.

Paramedics reported the couple to be "comfortable" in their unconscious state, but for fear of spinal damage, were not moved. Around 10:05am, a heavy-headed Mr Featherstone began to stir, alerting paramedics with his moaning and writhing on the floor. Although Mr Featherstone was instructed to remain still and calm, he arched his neck to see a motionless Mrs Featherstone out cold on the floor beside him. Mr Featherstone then quickly got to his knees and began calling his wife’s name while tugging at her floppy limbs. As paramedics and police left their donuts and coffees redundant on the front wall of the Featherstone house, a bewildered Mrs Featherstone sat up clutching her head in one hand, and her husband’s shoulder in the other.

As the Featherstones recalled the events of the morning, the police felt as though they'd "walked in on the set of a Norman Wisdom film" laughed DC Richards. The couple were taken to hospital for preliminary CAT scans, and the daughters were treated for shock.

The Featherstones pressed for further enquiry into the rabbits’ disappearance, and today a full-scale search on the Basingstoke area took place. Since the start of the pets’ disappearance, the situation has steadily attracted more attention in the local neighbourhood, leading to an unprecedented turn out of over 100 people at Basingstoke Constabulary HQ this morning when the search was declared 'open to public assistance'

Such was the enormity of public support, Officers at Basingstoke consulted their seniors for strategic planning directives to make best use of the extra bodies available. Many local organisations offered their services as consultants to the police, including the Basingstoke branch of Greenpeace and the RSPCA, as well as the local TA regiment. As a result of careful planning and effective team play between the various organisations, the plan, led by PC Cable, intended to make use of the woodland surrounding the Featherstones’ home by employing basic manoeuvres in TA training techniques for sniper attacks.

In a briefing given by PC Cable, it was made clear that "subtly is paramount if we are to find the missing rabbits. When your team is placed in the woods, it is essential you find a comfortable position and stay in it." The teams comprised of 4 people, who were instructed to sit down with their backs to each other, ensuring best possible viewing coverage of the area.

A last minute addition to the plan was brought about by the sponsorship of the operation by a local garden centre. The search party members were dressed in various foliage to blend into their woodland surroundings, encouraging the rabbits to approach them. In return for the supply of shrubbery, the plan was officially named "Operation: Homebase" despite opposition from the Greenpeace contingent.

By mid-morning there was still no sign of Romeo or Duncan, but members of the search party remained optimistic.

"We simply cannot sit down and allow this to happen. Two girls have lost the love of their lives and as citizens I feel it is our duty to stand up and sit down"

At the time of going to print, the search had not yet discovered the missing rabbits, but a fox, 3 badgers and an otter were all rescued from various antique woodland bait traps.