Missing dog which fell down 390ft cliff is rescued after three days - with the help of Keir Starmer

Emma Charvet, 50, a school pal of the Labour leader’s wife, said he had put up posters and searched on foot for her dog, Chilli, who disappeared in the Lake District. The mum-of-two was walking with her partner Daniel Rogers, 50, towards Easedale Tarn when the nine-year-old Retriever-Spaniel cross "vanished" on Monday (August 7).

They had tried searching the steep hillside of Helm Crag, close to where they had last seen him, but the thick bracken on the slopes had made it impossible to find him. Emma said Keir and Victoria Starmer, who were holidaying in the area, had joined the hunt the next day after she put pictures of her missing pooch on social media.

And incredibly, after days of searching, local climber Thomas Luke spotted Chilli below the summit, before a mountain rescue team stretchered him to safety. Emma said she was over the moon to find the dog, who is now recovering at home in Brighton, East Sussex, after suffering broken leg bones and bruising in the fall.

Yoga instructor Emma said: “The whole thing is miraculous. For two days, we searched for him. It was incredibly traumatic. I’m school friends with Victoria Starmer, Keir’s wife, so when they heard about Chilli they dropped everything and came to help us.

“They helped put posters up around Grasmere, and they retraced our steps and walked up on the mountain looking for him. I was just so excited that he was alive when we found him. It was the best moment ever. He was clearly badly injured. But he wouldn’t have survived another night without food and water."

Emma who owns Wild Tree Yoga, in Brighton, had begun walking with Chilli and international charity worker Daniel from Grasmere at around 1pm last Monday.They were nearing the summit of 409m (1328ft) high Helm Crag, on their way to Easedale Tarn, when they suddenly realise the dog had gone.

She said: “We’d got up to almost the very top, and I just suddenly turned around and he wasn’t there. It was just literally one moment to the next. He just vanished. I panicked quite quickly because I didn’t think he’d gone ahead or run off anyway. It was all quite steep and there was a lot of bracken.

“At that point, I felt he must have fallen off, which was horrific. There was an overhang, so you couldn’t see below. It was too steep to climb down but me and my partner Daniel decided to carry on and try and get down the mountain and walk back. It was all pretty impenetrable."

Emma said Victoria and Keir Starmer, who were staying very close to them on holiday, had found out about Chilli’s disappearance later that evening. The following day, they were among the search party that spent hours looking for him on the hillsides while also putting up posters.

Emma said: “It was a pretty traumatic time. I was in pieces. I’ve had Chilli for nine years and it was really horrible and devastating not knowing what happened to him. We then met up with friends – Vicky and Keir Starmer – and they helped us. We printed some posters and they went out the next day putting them up.

“We literally spent two days walking up and down the same mountain shouting for Chilli.”

Using tracking techniques to search the area Chilli was found having fallen roughly 360ft (120m).

Emma said: “Thomas climbed down and found his dog tag that had come off. That was proof that he had been there. He then used tracking skills to find Chilli. And he found him really quite quickly. It was a small area but really hard to reach.”

“He couldn’t move but he looked at us and he tried to wag his tail, but he was really weak. But I could see he recognised me and there was no blood.” Emma said Daniel phoned Langdale Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team who reached them within a few hours and used a stretcher to bring him to safety.

And they then rushed Chilli to a nearby vet, who spent a day examining his wounds and fractured leg before returning him to her the next day.

Emma is collecting money for the mountain rescue team and to cover Chilli’s vet bills via Go Fund Me.