Subject: Annoying 'alarm' was missing parrot

A woman who complained a 'fire alarm' had been sounding non-stop for seven days has discovered the noise was made by a missing parrot.

Shanna Sexton, 25, said she was "pushed to the edge" by the high-pitched tone and even called in workmen to try and locate the problem.

But the mystery was solved when she finally spotted the African Grey Congo parrot perched on a water butt as she hung out washing in the garden.

The noisy parrot, called Sammi, had escaped from neighbour Louise Ledger's house a week earlier and spent seven days in the garden mimicking a smoke alarm.

Miss Sexton, from Torquay, Devon, said: "I'd been hearing the noise for ages. I looked around the house checking everything. I even pulled out the washing machine.

"In the end a workman said it sounded like it may be my smoke alarm. We had problems with our smoke alarm before and I thought 'here we go again'.

"It was driving me mad but I just could not find out where it was coming from."

Three-year-old Sammi had flown out of the front door as owner Mrs Ledger returned home from a shopping trip.

Mrs Ledger, 38, was distraught and spent hours searching for her beloved pet before she plastered the neighbourhood with missing posters appealing for Sammi's return.

She said: "He is always picking up funny noises from anywhere and everywhere. I think he must have heard me burning the toast once as he does mimic the smoke alarm noise."