Mute boy who spoke for first time after being given puppy falls silent after thieves steal pet

A mute boy who spoke for the first time after getting a puppy for his birthday has been shocked back into silence after thieves snatched the dog from his back garden. Liam Hainsworth, four, suffers from a learning disability and had never pronounced a word - until the birthday gift of a pug pup named Millie. He uttered his first words 'dog' and 'mummy' just two weeks after the arrival of Milie and over the following weeks the youngster's life appeared to be transforming.

Now the £900 dog has been stolen from the family's back garden in Bradford and little Liam has been plunged into silence. Liam's mother Aimee Hainsworth, 24, said: 'Liam and Milie were inseparable and Liam is heartbroken now. He goes all over the house looking for her, but he knows she's gone.



'He'll go over to Milie's cage and just beat on the bars. There's no words coming out but you just know he's screaming: "Where is Milie? Where is she?" inside. Milie really was his best friend. They would play together happily for hours. None of his toys has ever held his short attention span that long so this was incredible. He loved her.

'Liam has been absolutely distraught. Straight after she was taken he started looking around for her but it was the next morning it really hit him. Now he has just completely gone back into his shell. He's not even tried to say any words since she went missing and he has started having tantrums again.'