Warrington grandma takes her adored pet tortoise to the pub with her

Jackie Leek first bought the African sulcata tortoise she calls Mr Miyagi for company when recovering from cancer 18 months ago.

Since then, the pair have become inseparable, and the 58-year-old Warrington woman has taken the eight-year-old tortoise on holiday in her caravan and for regular strolls on the beach.

He weighs around three stone (19kg) and is expected to be around 10 stone (63kg) when he gets older.

Because he could live to be 120, she has even set up a trust fund to look after him when she has gone.

Despite his large size, Jackie takes him everywhere she can, and says people often ‘abandon their cars’ to stop and ask for a picture of Mr Miyagi.

Jackie Leek takes her giant pet tortoise called Mr Miyagi on regular walks to the pub. Picture: SWNS

She said: "I open the door and he just follows me down the drive and onto the estate where we live. He will just follow me and we have little walks.

"People will abandon their cars when they see us, they will stop and ask if he is real and if they can touch him.

"I take him to the beach and there is a little quiet bit where I take him, but I went there on a bank holiday, and before I knew it, we were surrounded by people. Everyone was having a photo shoot with him – it was mad.

"People always do double turns. I once had eight cars all stop in the road and everyone got out of their vehicles.

"People also cannot believe how heavy he is."

Jackie Leek takes her giant pet tortoise called Mr Miyagi on regular walks to the pub. Picture: SWNS

Jackie was diagnosed with myeloma, a type of blood cancer that develops in the bone marrow, and breast cancer around four years ago.

After having radiotherapy, she would feel lonely so she decided to go to the pet shop, where she bought a tortoise called Thor.

Jackie would often walk Thor in a pram, but he tragically died three years after she first bought him.

The mum-of-two then decided to rescue Mr Miyagi, who was originally called Arthur Pendragon, but she ‘never’ considered getting one as a pet before she got Thor.

Jackie, of Warrington, said: "I never had an interest in reptiles or tortoises, ever. I am terrified of snakes. I never thought I would get a tortoise.

"He helps me loads. I do have some dark days. I'm getting stronger after my diagnosis, but Mr Miyagi is helping me.

Jackie Leek takes her giant pet tortoise called Mr Miyagi on regular walks to the pub. Picture: SWNS

"I could not go back to work because of my immune system and I have to watch where I go and what I do, so he is a massive part of my life.

"He gives me a purpose, and when I am crying, he sits there and I talk to him."

Mr Miyagi loves eating romaine lettuce and dandelions, and he sometimes has green beans, strawberries and tomatoes as a treat.

He also enjoys sitting in a children's sand pit that's been filled up with water, but he has been known to ‘re-arrange the furniture’ when Jackie has left her house.

Jackie, a former nurse, said: "He takes himself off to bed at around 5pm and will sleep until 8am, unless I get up and he hears me in the kitchen.

Jackie Leek takes her giant pet tortoise called Mr Miyagi on regular walks to the pub. Picture: SWNS

"He is dead gentle and will sit on my slippers.

"If we leave him alone in the house, then you think we would have been burgled because he re-arranges the furniture."

Jackie says that weirdly, Mr Miyagi hates the colour black and will ‘ram her black mop bucket around the house’ in protest.

The grandmother-of-two said: "I don't know what exactly it is. We have a Christmas tree in a garden that is in a black pot, and I do not know how he moves the tree around the garden.

"He will ram the pot - he does not like anything black. I once put a black toolbox down on the floor and the next minute I knew, he was ramming it."

African sulcata tortoises often live until they are 120 years old, but some have been known to survive for even longer.

Jackie Leek takes her giant pet tortoise called Mr Miyagi on regular walks to the pub. Picture: SWNS

Jackie has a trust fund set up for Mr Miyagi, so whoever takes care of him after she dies will be able to afford it.

She said: "I have made plans for when I am not here so my partner will keep him for as long as he can.

"After that, I am hoping my daughter will take him. I have left money with him because they are not cheap, and so he has the best insurance and vets.

"If my daughter cannot have him or thinks she does not want him, then my partner has two sons, so I am hoping they could even have him.

"If not, I am sure there will be a home for him somewhere, but you just never know."